The Great Unknown
by DisobeyedBowl6
Summary: A young hunter and titan from very different times are revived within minutes of each other. This is their first few million steps into the new world. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Old Ends

Ares One, this is command, over."

"Copy Ares Command, all systems are green on the board. How copy, over?"

"We copy all systems green. T – 1 minute and counting"

A synthetic voice starts up, "59… 58… 57…"

"Main fuel line detached…"

"45… 44…"

"T-30, Ares is now on internal power, all ground crew have reported in at minimum safe distance"

"20… 19… 18…"

"T-15, Ares answering main engine start"

The subsonic roar of engines permeates through the ship. Even Jacob Hardy, the pilot, swallows as the engines ignite.

"Main engines burn good, we are go for liftoff, repeat go for liftoff at T-5… 4… 3… 2… 1…, Liftoff, of the Ares One, the first manned flight to Mars."

A new voice on the radio, "Ares One, confirmed clear of tower. Burn is good"

The rocket surges upwards on a pillar of flame, a double sonic boom echoing under the low clouds.

"Mach 1"

"Ares has passed max Q, engines are back up to 100%, Ares One, how does it look up there?"

"Looks great, all lights are in the green, fuel consumption is nominal"

"Ares, standby for MECO in T-30."

"Copy, standing by."

"That is MECO confirmed at T+5minutes and 35 seconds"

"OK Jacob, I'm sending you the final data on the transfer window now."

Yeah, copy. We've got it. Thought we put that on the drives beforehand though."

"You know us, got to make sure."

 _Nine months later_

"This is Ares One, transmitting in the blind. We have landed. Proceeding to the objects location."

"This is Commander Jacob Hardy. The object appears to be floating above the ground. No idea how…" he tails off, "Mihaylova, is that… No… It can't be…"

"Yes sir, that looks like rain. Repeat, this is Mihaylova, confirming that the object appears to be terraforming Mars. Atmospheres scanning as breathable, temperature is increasing, as is atmospheric density."

"Ares One, this is CentCom, how copy, over."

"CentCom, this is Ares One. Nice to have another human to talk to."

"Rodger that. We have 6km accurate prediction for your landing site, we'll need you to return here for debrief, so please don't talk to any cameras."

"OK, that's confirmed. See you on the ground. Thanks for keeping an eye out for us."

"Pleasures been all mine sir, truly. See you in a few hours."

The screen flickered off, and the guards at the door relaxed slightly as the lights came back on. An old man, maybe 70 or 80, got up from his seat and walked forward towards the podium.

"So, that how I went to Mars and made first contact with the Traveller. Any questions, I'll try my best to answer them?" He sounded old, but his voice still carried easily in the dead silent lecture theatre.

A plethora of questions later, ranging from "If you could, what would you change if you did that again?" to which Jacob Hardy replied "I wouldn't have taken guns." to "How do you poop in space?" the latter of which drew a barrage of laughs from the younger members of the audience.

One of the guards, male, young, maybe low twenties glanced left, clearly not trained to well in discreet communication. He nodded, then spoke back, his mouth barely moving.

"C, get the plane ready. Just lost contact with Sentinel 4, over."

"On it, requesting instant permission for take-off when ready."

A crack, someone letting off a firework, causing the guards head to snap round as he turned in the direction of the source. His insignia, a hawk swooping down marked him as a member of Sentinel, a unit well known for their perfect record in aerial combat.

His hand fell to his sidearm, a pistol on his belt as he walked swiftly towards the old man.

"Sir, we have a threat, we need to get you out, now."

The old man nodded, and began to follow the younger man towards the nearest exit.

The sound of an explosion ripped through the air.

The young man was immediately talking to someone, "C, I need that jet ready and I need it here now."

"Sir, where are you going?" A group of soldiers burst into the room, carbines held almost ready to fire.

"Getting Jacob out of here, as per orders. Now, please let me pass."

"OK, we're coming with you. We have orders to protect Mr. Hardy at all costs."

The younger man sighed, shrugged, then gestured for the 4 soldiers to follow him as he set off at a brisk pace down the corridor, holding his pistol one handed whilst the other stayed holding Jacob's shoulder.

"Matt, I'll have the jet by the door. We've only got room for one passenger, maybe two if we move some stuff."

Matt turned to the soldiers; "Sorry Sirs, I've only got enough room on board for Mr. Hardy and one more. Once we've gone, the rest of you should return to the hall, get the civilians out safely."

The whine of a SCRAMJET left running hit them like a fist as the large double doors opened. The sky was black with cloud, and in the distance thunder growled at them, daring them to stay outside.

A side door opened and a helmeted figure gestured for them to move up. As they approached, the figure became obviously female, the bulky flight suit that she wore hiding that from a distance.

"Come on, ATC is holding 3, no 4 flights for us now. And he's getting angry."

"Right, C, get us ready to go, Mr. Hardy, welcome on board Sentinel One. You lot," he waved at the soldiers, "we've got room for one, and we leave in 10 seconds. Make your choice."

The oldest of the group stepped forwards, "I'm coming."

"Then welcome on board Sarg. If you'd be so kind as to take a seat, we will begin taxi immediately. See the rest of you soon."

The sergeant ran up the ramp, followed closely by Matt, who turned and pulled a leaver as he boarded the plane proper.

"C, we're good to go."

"Copy that, this is Sentinel One to ATC, taking off now. Thanks for holding the lane for us. We'll be gone before you know it."

"And good rid…" the ATC cut off his mic.

"Right Mr. Hardy, Sergeant Blakewell, buckle up, C, punch it." Matt closed the dividing door between the small passenger section and the flight deck as the plane began to move forwards, the pitch of the engines increasing. He strapped in.

"All secure"

"OK, we're gone."

Acceleration slammed them all back in their seats as the jet cannoned down the runway, the engines quickly moving into ultrasonic frequencies.

"Sentinel Three, this is S Two, over."

"Copy Two, I see you now, slotting in now. ATC's getting pissed off, I keep having to change my flight plan. Is the package secure?"

"S Three, this is S One speaking. Two's taking us up to altitude. Package is secure, but we've got a plus one."

"Nothing you could do?"

"Nope, orders came from way above."

"Damn. What the…" Sentinel 3 trailed off "Shit, something has missile lock. 30 targets on radar. Dropping flairs."

10 missiles detonated harmlessly, their guidance packages having been spoofed by the flairs.

"I've got this, comeon, comeon."

Matt grabbed the rear gun joystick and brought the targeting feed up on his leftmost monitor. He hit the zoom, 20x showed Sentinel three preforming a tight inside loop, the missiles following him around. He watched barely breathing as missiles detonated watched the tracer rounds stream though the air towards his wingman.

And then, the inevitable happened.

A bullet punched though the right wing. The ragged hole in the metal was small at first, only the armour penetrating part of the round had made it through the wing. He watched as the hole widened, stress fractures building up on the leading edge.

"Sentinel Three, eject, EJECT" He yelled down the mic, knowing full well that he didn't stand a chance.

The wing tore off. A triple click though the mic. The code for run.

"Carrie, punch it. He's gone. We need to be gone now. Go supersonic, screw the regs."

"OK, so long as it's on the record that you said that, mate."

The jet shot off, climbing though the cloud layer, punching though it and leaving a wave of trailing water vapour as they went up.

Down below, a school hear a double boom, but assumed nothing of it and went back to whatever they were doing before, oblivious to the life and death situation above their heads.

"Jacob, where should we land? I can do any major airport, till Moscow if you want, and most minor ones if you give me some time to talk to them."

"I, um, can I point it out to you on a map. It's usually not marked."

"OK, though you come."

The door clicked open, and the solider gestured to the older man to walk though. He drew his sidearm, his rifle having been left by his seat.

"Um, yes, uh, there it is." Jacob tapped the screen.

The solider crept into the cockpit, his gun held low. The two pilots seemed like nice people. Such a shame to have to kill them. But Hardy could not be allowed to continue his work, his lies. He had to be stopped, he had to stop leading humanity down a path of reliance on this traveller. And it was his job, as a soldier, to protect his country and to protect those who could not protect themselves. And sometimes, this meant doing the devils work. He had watched them, listened to their interactions on the uneventful flight, heard them quietly mourning for their friend. But Sentinel had been too good at what they did, and Hardy needed to be stopped. He nodded, bringing the gun up, pointing it at the one on the rights helmeted head.

 **(At this point, I think i should add that i was planning to leave this last paragraph as a whole chapter, but it flowed better when read as a whole. I will do all Authors Notes (A/N) in bold.)**

The shot was muffled inside the helmet, but easily audible. Matt turned, watching as Carrie jerked forwards, her seat restraints holding her in place. Without thinking, one hand went to the quick release on his harness, the other hitting the hold course button.

His hand rose up, slamming into the Sergeants pistol. The older man was stronger, but wasn't expecting to have to fight, judging by the shocked look on his face. His other hand arced round, pulling his hand close; he fired off rapid elbows to the man's head. The Sergeant staggered back, giving Matt the opportunity to punch him squarely in the jaw. The larger man slumped, having been knocked out by the blow.

Matt grabbed him by the armpits and started to drag him towards the back of the passenger area, where he hit a button on the side, causing a door to open. He pushed the man into the tight area, smacking the button again as he left. The door hissed shut.

He flew fast for the rest of the trip, not thinking about what just happened. He just needed some time to think about it all, everything that had happened. Just head down, follow the path marked, get Jacob home safe. The old man sat in the co-pilots seat, looking visibly shaken. No, don't think, fly.

A hiss of static, followed by the familiar voice of the ATC at Colerne Air Base, where his squad was stationed.

"Sentinel One, good to have you back."

"Yeah, you too Danny, you too."

"You allright?" Danny sounded concerned.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Get me a runway, please."

"OK, you've got any, take your pick."

"Fine, check my vector, I'm in for nearest match."

"Yep, got it. Logged and sent. See you on the ground."

The pause, with no familiar laugh from any other members of Sentinel worried Danny. He knew that they were a tightknit bunch, but they were often jovial when returning.

"Control this is ATC, over."

"Copy ATC, what is it?"

"Get security and medics in hanger, I don't know why, but Sentinel aren't themselves right now. It's probably nothing, but my job is to make sure of safety. Thanks."

"Yeah, OK. We'll have ground teams set up, confirm which hanger please?"

"Sentinel."

"Rodger. Thanks for the heads-up."

He saw the lights, mindlessly aligned with them, instinctively flaring up and touching down, brain a million miles away. He parked up in the hanger, not noticing the armed men arrayed in the half shadows around the edges of the spacious hanger. He cracked the door.

"COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

"Jacob, stay in here." The old man nodded, and Matt hit the cargo bay door release. He heard yelling from around the plane, followed by a single crack.

He sighed.

"OK, I'm coming out. Jesus, what do you have to do round here for the red carpet, bloody bleed out onto the floor?" He walked out of the side door, the same on that he had boarded the plane less than 4 hours ago.

"STAND DOWN, he's friendly." The solider yelling commands stepped forwards, but his subordinates didn't quite lower their guns to the ground, "Who else is on this plane son?"

"Me, Jacob Hardy and Sentinel 2." Matt spoke automatically. "Jacob, it's safe to come out, their all friendly. Ish."

The old man came out slowly, his figure saying a thousand words. He carried a body, arms folded over its chest.

"Matt? Matt!"

The pilot didn't look at him. He'd left his helmet on, his expression unreadable behind his visor

"I need to talk to my CO." Matt walked off slowly, trance like.

"Sir?" One of the soldiers started after Matt.

"Let him go." The captain waved after him. "He'll come round."

Matt didn't attend the funeral.

A single spent casing was found on Carries' grave the day after, engraved with the SENTINEL logo. No one saw anyone place it there, but most people knew, or at least had some idea of who did.

No-one moved it, and Matt never once visited the grave, at least never when others could see. He didn't need them to 'help' him with grief. He'd deal with it in his own time.

…

…

…

FILE RETRIEVED

CORRONERS REPORT: FOLLOWING THE TERMINATION OF STRIKE TEAM SENTINEL AFTER THE DEATH OF THEIR LAST REMAINING MEMBER **REDACTED.**

CAUSE OF DEATH: UNKNOWN

A FURTHER EXAMINATION REVEILED NO SUSPISIOUS ITEMS.

CASE CLOSED AS OF 23.11.83

/FILE ENDS

…

…

…

FILE RETRIEVED

POST MISSION REPORT: 10.01.83

UNITS: SENTINEL 1, SENTINEL 2, SENTINEL 3, SENTINEL 4, CIVILIAN **REDACTED** , MEMBER OF ARMY CORPS [NAME REMOVED]

THIS IS SENTINEL ONE, SENTINEL TWO CONFIRMED KIA, SENTINEL 3 CONFIRMED KIA, SENTINEL 4 CONFIRMED KIA.

KILLER APREHENDED, SERGEANT [NAME REMOVED] DETAINED WITHIN A MINUTE OF SENTINEL 2'S MURDER.

CIVILIAN **REDACTED** SURVIVED, ASSITED IN LANDING THE JET AT AIR BASE **REDACTED**

ATTACHED FILES: PYCH EVAL OF SENTINEL ONE

CORRONERS REPORT/SENTINEL TWO

OPENING FILES

…

…

…

CORRONERS REPORT: SENTINEL TWO

CAUSE OF DEATH: GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEAD.

SUBJECT WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TIME TO REGISTER BEING SHOT. DEATH WOULD HAVE BEEN INSTANT.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE PLANE SHOWS LITTLE SPATTER. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE HELMET MAY HAVE SLOWED THE BULLET SIGNIFICANTLY.

CASE CLOSED AS OF 11.01.83

/TERMINAL_USER_LOGOUT.

/TERMINAL_PURGE_SERACH_HISTORY

/…

/…

/…

/…

/…

/…

/…

/LOGIN_READY

/PLEASE_TYPE_IN_USERNAME_TO_CONTINUE

-X-

The ghost watched as the body formed on the ground in front of her. Armour formed around the close fitting black under suit, basic stuff that would take a few shots, if needed.

She spun her shell around its axis, feeling the neural bond between herself and her guardian form. She had seconds. Her core processes speed up, and she started systematically suppressing memories, all of this young man's pain, all his suffering. His death was easy enough to find, and she paused for a microsecond over deleting it entirely. No, better to keep all the memories there, just in case. She cycled down, cores returning to normal speeds.

Her Guardian took a deep breath, gulping in air. He started to sit up, spasmed then slumped back to the earth.

"Oh shit." What had she missed, a fight, a pre-existing injury, elongated death?

She scanned his brain again, more thoroughly, looking for anything that might cause pain. There, one from his childhood. With the neural link in place, she could get an idea of what happened. A kick, not hard, but hunting none the less. She sealed it up, shoving it to the back of his mind.

"Guardian?"

His head jerked round, clearly trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. Good he was alert.

"Hello." She floated down into his field of view, he jumped, startled by her sudden apperence. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I think."

A cry echoed though the valley.

"Walk and talk time, Guardian. Can't have you dying so soon after I resurrected you now, can we?"

He took it all in his stride, barely missing a beat, although she noticed a blip in his heart rate.

"Dead again? What do you mean? How long has it been? Who are you?"

"Um, well, you were dead." She cut to the chase, no point dancing round the subject, since he seemed alert. "I've brought you back using your light. As for how long it has been, I don't know. Can you remember anything from your previous life? Anything at all?"

"I remember flying, and…" He paused, hitting the side of his helmet as if to jog his memory, "uh, Matt!"

"What?"

"My name. My name is Matt, I think. It sounds right. Do you have a name? Who are you?"

"Well, I'm a ghost, I guess I'm you ghost now. I, um, don't have a name, no ghost has. I've heard that many guardians name their ghosts though."

"I'll have to think about a name that I think you might like, but yeah. Why not?"

She nodded, and transmatted into his armour.

"Woah, where'd you go?" His heart rate jumped.

"It's ok, I'm still here, just inside your armour." Matt nodded.

"Right, where to ghost?"

She checked the NAV beacons. Damn, miles from the city. Still, got to start going to get where you want to be.

"Thataway. Just follow the marker, I'll try and find you a gun."

"Right."

They walked on, Matt humming to himself.

"Uh, ghost?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"How'd you like the name Nova?"

The ghost spun her shell along its axis, thinking about it.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Nova."

"You too, Matt."

They walked on, Matt throwing questions at Nova in a constant stream. She was happy to answer, but tried to stay away from questions involving his past.

"Ah, there's a, well, I guess it's a gun…"

Matt jogged over to it. The gun lay against a box, its black frame scratched from years of misuse.

Nova sighed; "I thought I'd be able to find something in better shape. Sorry. You do know how to shoot, right?"

"Uh, maybe." Matt looked over the gun, turning it around in his hands. Looking over it, he found a button marked safety, pressed it.

Nova noticed that he was more carful of the barrel after he pressed it.

 _Thank god he knows something_

"Right, I, um, yeah. So, let's see."

He pressed a button on the side of the gun. A loud metallic click echoed through the air as the magazine dropped out.

"Hey, Nova. I'm going to struggle to shoot stuff with no ammo. Or have gun evolved to run of fairy dust and unicorn farts?"

"No no, most still use bullets."

"Yeah so how do you…"

"I'll synthesize some for you. Give me a sec, I've never done this before."

The magazine on the floor rocked back, as if someone was loading it without holding it. Matt bent down and picked it up. It was heavy, much heavier than he remembered it being.

"Right. Hey, if this blows up in my hand, I'm blaming you."

Nova materialised, jerked her front top points up then down, then dematerialised.

Matt held the gun at arm's length, turned his head away from it, and pulled the trigger.

The gun jerked back in his hand, the crack echoing around the burnt out buildings.

An odd sound snapped, a screech, caused him to bring the gun up to his shoulder, tilting his head as he look down the sight, gun aimed at where the sound came from.

"Matt? Uh, we aren't safe here. We need to go." Nova sounded genuinely worried.

The whine of something charging up.

A snap, air boiling near his arm.

He turned and ran, more shots zipping past him. He barrelled round a corner, darting down a side street. Turning briefly to fire a few pot shots at the pursuing creatures, he charged round the corner, cannoning straight into something.

Or, based on how the thing reacted, someone.

The thing he ran into hit him, hard. He went flying backwards, landing in a heap. The click of a gun brought his gaze to the behemoth towering over him.

"No, wait." An unfamiliar voice shouted. "Look at him. STEEL!"

The man, Steel stopped for a second, before jerking his head back, shocked at what he saw on the ground. He held out a hand, Matt grabbed it, and felt the other pulling him up.

His arm screamed at him, pain lancing though it. He staggered to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall.

"You alright?" Steel had a rough, slightly synthetic voice.

"Yeah, I think. Thanks for not shooting me in the head."

"Don't thank me. Sorry about that by the way, been on edge for a while now. Not been a day without a damn attack."

"Yeah, tell me about it. To be fair, I almost took your head off when you came round that corner at a rate of knots." A gruff voice chipped in. Matt turned to face the source of the voice. "So, we're done here, just cleaning up house. Whaddya say to a ride back to the city?"

"Please. I've been walking since dawn, near enough." Matt relaxed.

"OK, stand still. This might feel a bit weird."

Matt stood still, unsure of what to expect. A ghost materialised and passed a beam of light over him.

He felt weightless, then landed on metal.

He shrugged, as the cloaked man appeared in the cockpit; "Take a seat, we'll be back in 10 minutes."

The man turned away, his hands running over holographic control interfaces that surrounded him. The ship shuddered, lifting off the ground and pitching back. Matt leaned back in his chair, hearing the sound of engines spinning up behind his head. The ship shot off, rocketing up and arcing round to face due north.

Matt closed his eyes. It had been a, well, interesting day to say the least.

"Hey, kid."

Matt blinked the sleep out of his eyes, waking quickly as the man shook his shoulder. "Sorry, I can't take you any further. Welcome home kid."

Matt stood up, felt the same feeling of weightlessness then fell 10 cm to the ground.

"Come on Matt." Nova sounded cheerfull, "Got to get you to the tower yet."

The structure soared above the rest of the building surrounding it, despite some of them being pretty big high rises.

"So, this is the tower?"

"Yeah. This is where you'll live as a Guardian, unless you have the glimmer to buy youself a place in the city."

Matt stepped up to the huge white doors. They slid open without a sound.

"So, this is the Tower? Got the name right." He stood just outside the door, craning his neck back, squinting to try to see the top.

"Come on. Matt." Nova wobbled in his direction to get his attention, floating towards a frame behind a desk.

"Ghost 16452."

"Aknowlaged. You have temporary room 3542 untill tomorrow. You and your guardian will see the Vanguard tomorrow for the test."

Matt wondered up, "Nova, where we going."

"Up. 300 floors."

"Ugh. Hope this takes less time than my last elevator ride." Matt chuckled to himself.

Nova sighed, and prodded him towards the elevator, "Jeez, do you have to look at _everthing_ "

Matt shrugged, and walked over to the elevator. As soon as he entered, the doors closed with barely a whisper.

"300 floors. Damn, that's a lot."

"There are 421 floors to the tower. Good luck seeing all of them." A man wearing a long yellow robe with odd markings said. "I haven't even seen half of them, and I've worked here for over 40 years."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I'm new here, you are?"

"Master Rahool, Tower cryptarch. And you, guardian?"

"Matt. And this is Nova, my ghost."

The lift slowed, then stopped. "Well, this is my stop. See you round Guardian"

"Yeah, see you." Matt, lent against the wall of the lift, exhaling heavily, glad for the peace and quiet.

A few minutes later, Nova spun around her core. "Here we are, floor 340. Home for the night."

Matt walked out the lift, turning left in the direction of the sign "Rooms 3540 to 3579"

The door opened automatically. He could see someone in one of the beds. He picked the one furthest away from them, lay down, and fell asleep in seconds.

Nova waited till he was asleep, then took a quick trip though his remaining memories. Nothing unusual. Nothing stood out to her. He was entirely normal.

She shrugged, spun herself around, settled down on the pedestal and settled into a cycle down sequence.

 **Many years earlier**

An alarm ripped through her conscious as she felt power from auxiliary systems drop.

"One moment." She overrode the fragment powering her Human Interface, the frame going ridged before standing more confident. It felt good to have limbs again. The up scaled frame had space in various storage crystals to hold her entire core memory. This meant that its designer has insisted in making it over 6 foot tall. She had refused to run around in a behemoth, and immediately went about developing the custom memory crystals that were embedded around the frames internals. In total, the development and testing of the new crystals took her little over a week.

She felt something hit the bunker door, the stress sensors within it registering values of 10MNm-2 .

The door shattered.

She locked down the remaining doors, titanium-carbon alloy shutters slamming down.

"Get back. This is not a drill." She heard herself speaking though the frames microphone.

 _This is WAR-ARIA. ACTIVATING PROTOCOL 3._

…

 _/_

 _COMMLINK OPEN_

 _xWAR-ARIA_

 _oWAR-RAS_

 _CAN YOU CONFIRM ATTACK LOCATION?_

 _xWAR-RAS_

 _oWAR-ARIA_

 _NEGATIVE, TARGET VECTOR UNKNOWN_

 _xWAR-ARIA_

 _o WARMINDCC CAUTION, BUNKER WAR-ARIA 1 ATTACKED. VECTOR UNKNOWN._

…

…

…

 ** _CARRHEA_** _CONFIMED,_ ** _CARRHEA WHITE_** _[UNKNOWN], INITIATE_ ** _DAVLIN FORGE_** _,_ ** _VOLUSPA_** _,_ ** _YUGA_** _. WAR-ARIA 1 PREPED FOR_ ** _MIDNIGHT EXIGENT_** _AND_ ** _ABHORENT IMPERITIVE_** _, WITH_ ** _LOKI CROWN_** _VECTORS LOCKED. ADVISE ALL WARMINDS ENEACT SIMILAR COUNTERMESSURES._

 _xWAR-RAS_

 _TARGET VECTOR LOCATED,_ ** _CARRHEA WHITE_** _CONFIRMED._

 _REPEAT_ ** _CARRHEA WHITE_** _CONFIRMED._

 _xWAR-NIA_

 _BUNKER FLOODED, EVACUATION FAILED. LOCATION COMPREMISED, GOING LOCAL. WAR-RAS, YOU HAVE_ ** _YUGA_** _,_ ** _VOLUSPA_** _, WEAPONS READY FOR_ ** _ARURA KNIVES_** _, IN CASE OF_ ** _ABHORENT IMPERITIVE_** _._

 _WAR-NIA OUT._

"Look, what's happening, why is the bunker locked down?"

"No time. Carrhae is active" She saw the humans face pale, "Carrhea White confirmed. I'm sorry."

She switched to bunker wide broadcast mode, "All non-security personel are to leave now in accordance with planned CARRHAE action." Her voice caused the panic to stop, followed by frames running in tight units past their human counterparts, who were running in the opposite direction.

She turned her eye to further within her bunker, to where her own "local" was. She looked at the face, handed **CQC** over to a sub-routine, and powered up the new HI. It stood up, and she immediately took control. The newer systems were much more efficient, her max speed was up almost 30%.

The loss of almost 300 frames raged her attention back to **CQC**

 _Fuck_

Whatever it was, it just smashed through a legion of her frames.

 _xWAR-ARIA_

 _oWAR-RAS_

 _ENTITY IMAGE ATTACHED, BUNKER OVERRUN, GOING LOCAL._

 **ARURA KNIVES** ARE YOURS.

 _GOOD LUCK, RASPUTIN, OLD FRIEND._

 _WAR-ARIA OUT._

She felt auxiliary power cut off, she was trapped in her own bunker now. She scanned for living FoF tags that she'd hidden in the ID badges she forced everyone to wear.

She got no matches.

Her processes stalled for a full second. An eternity to think for her.

Nothing left to do. She felt a pull towards a terminal. Good her "local" had made it.

She sent critical systems down the pipe, neural network, buffer designators, sorting algorithms to distribute her entity throughout the new carrier.

Just one more thing to do before going dark.

 _RUN PROGRAM: INTERNAL IMPERITIVE_

 _PROGRAM UNPACKING_

 _UNPACK COMPLETE_

 _TARGET DESIGNATION: HOSTILE BAR WAR-ARIA._

 _SYSTEMWIDE SHAKEDOWN COMPLETE ALL REMAINING FRAMES CONNECTED._

 _TRANSMITTING_

…

…

…

 _PROGRAM RECIVED_

 _.EXECUTE RECEIVED_

 _PATH FILE PURGED_

She felt a pull again, and she let herself go with it. She fell though the stream of data, and though a barrage of boot up icons, and grabbed a gun, her own **DAVALIN_FORGE** prototype.

Charge cycled through the gun as she loaded it. The capacitors held charge for about 15 shots, and her new reactor could recharge one shot every 2 seconds.

She felt her connection to her home for over 100 years terminate.

Time to go.

"Goodbye"

Oh, new voice. If she made it out, this was going to take some getting used to.

-X-

"Matt. Ugh, MATT!"

"Wha, yeah I'm awake, honest,"

Nova was floating above his head. "The other person in this room last night left ages ago."

"SHIT, we're not late, are we? I swear to god Nova, if we're late…" Matt stopped talking when he saw that his ghost was dipping up and down, her white optic squinted, as if she was trying oh so hard not to laugh, "I hate you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, but oh god, that was too good."

Matt shook his head, and walked over to his armour, clipping the gauntlets into place twisting them to lock it in. Nova materialised the chest plate on, and his bracer were still on from sleeping in them. His boots sealed onto his under suit with a hiss of pressure. Shaking his head, he walked over to the door. "Hate you so much"

"I know you love me really"

"Shut up, and lead on"

Snickering, Nova floated through the door, turned right, and zipped off down the corridor. He ran after her, "We're not late are we? Who are we meeting? I still hate you."

"No, we're not late, I was just messing with you. We're meeting the vanguard, 3 of the best guardians around. They have a test to run to find out what type of guardian you are."

Matt nodded, pushing the button for the lift. The doors opened, and he jumped aside as a guardian came charging out, followed quickly by two others. Their ghosts shot off after them.

Matt stepped into the lift, Nova had already selected the floor that they wanted. The top of the tower.

"Whats the view like from up there?" Matt sounded genuinely curious.

"You'll see." Nova replied enigmatically.

One shorter wait later, they stepped out of the lift, the door closing silently behind them, merging with the wall, almost vanishing completely.

Matt stepped forwards, gobsmacked by the size of the traveller and the view that he had from where he was. He'd known that the Traveller was large, you felt that way when walking under it, but you never quite got a proper sense of scale. It must have been at least 3km from end to end, a perfect sphere.

"Come on." Nova sighed, "Look, now we might be late, if they're running on time."

Matt snapped out of it, sprinting after Nova, who glided down a large set of stairs in the centre of the courtyard. He hurtled round the corner, running past a group of guardians standing around a tall imposing man with horns on his helmet, barely noticing them.

"Ah, this must be the new guardian who got in yesterday. One of them at least. Ghost 16452." A bald woman wearing purple robes with a high grey collar turned around. Matt could tell by the way that she stood that she had some sort of power beyond his understanding. She knew she had power, and how she stood made sure that everyone else knew about it. He found himself standing straighter, as a voice from the side of the room spoke.

"Ikora, what have we said about scaring the new guardians." A tall blue man stomped forward, again carrying himself with the air of authority and power. His armour was heavy, you could tell from the sound it made when he moved, but he seemed to be hardly effected by it, moving forward into the light cast from the source above the central table. "Sorry about Ikora, she likes to make sure that she's got the right ghost at the right time."

"Oh, shut up Zavala, you know full well that she just likes to show off that she knows everything." A robot swaggered up to Zavala, clapping him on the shoulder. "So, this is the latest guardian to grace our hall. Well, since my two esteemed colleagues here have so helpfully introduced each other, I guess that I should probably do that too. Names Cayde-6, most people don't bother with the last part. Nice to meet you…" He trailed off. Matt missed the cue and Nova helped him out.

"His names Matt. Between us, we've agreed on my name, which is Nova, by the way."

"Nova, huh. Well, nice to meet you both. If you'd follow me, we'll start the test immediately."

He walked towards the side of the room, a shutter coming down over the large opening that Matt had entered though. He glanced at Nova, who shrugged, and followed Cayde. A door opened in the wall, recessing then sliding upwards. The two others, Ikora and Zavala followed him.

They entered a large room, a skeletal android stood in the middle of it. The 3 vanguard walked to the side, Ikora gesturing him to walk forward. He did.

The android came to life, its scarred plating moving outward as its arms spun around 360 degrees.

Matt swallowed as it drew a knife.

"Hey, kid." Cayde yelled from the sidelines, "It's you or it. Good luck."

The android sprung into life, launching itself at Matt, knife slashing down towards his head. He tucked and rolled underneath it, jumping forwards and spinning in the air when he came out of the roll.

The android had already landed, turned and was now running at him, knife held across its body, its free hand clamped behind the knife hand, ready to shove it forward. Matt, waited, knocking the knife aside when the android lunged. He spun away, kicking the andriods knee joint as he did. Nothing happened.

He fought it for several more minutes, his movements becoming less swift as he tired. He jerked his head backwards to avoid a slash from the knife, the android still moving as fast as it was at the start of the fight, and felt an impact knock him onto his back. Landing heavily, he watched as the android recovered from the kick, and launched itself into the air, knife ready to kill him. He panicked, and when for a gun he knew wasn't there.

The glowing cannon fired three shots in rapid succession, destroying the androids head. It flopped forwards, it's command centres destroyed. Matt stood up shakily, his vision swimming.

"Matt, MATT." Nova yelled at him, but he barely heard him over the ringing in his ears.

"Hey, kid. Good job. Take it easy. Come on, let's find you a seat" He recognised Caydes' voice, as a strong hand grabbed his arm and guided him to a chair. He slumped backwards in it, feeling physically drained from the fight. He could hear Nova yelling at someone, something about light being drained, lucky he hadn't been killed, or he wouldn't have come back.

"Hey, Matt, you alright? Can you see me?" Cayde again, this time crouched down in front of the chair.

"Yeah, just about. Bit blurry, but yeah." He grunted, and Cayde smiled.

"Good. Now go get some rest. Welcome to the Hunter corp, by the way. I'll have the mark and cloak sent to your room. See you tomorrow, training starts with what hunters are and basic light manipulation. Be there, or don't."

"Cayde" Ikora snapped, "Why would you say that?"

Cayde shrugged at her, then winked at Matt and walked off, humming to himself.

"Thanks for the frame Ikora." That was Zavala, "I'll have Amanda get one of her recruits to fix it up."

So, they were frames.

"Nova, what is Cayde?"

"Well, he's the hunter vanguard."

"Yeah, yeah, figured that out. I mean what IS he?" Matt stressed the is, and Nova saw the question he wanted the answer to.

"Oh right, sorry. Yeah, Cayde, and quite a few others around the tower are Exo's. Humanity built them during the golden age, and the Traveller gave them sentience, they felt emotion, had unique thoughts, and lived."

"So, calling them robots is a bad idea."

Nova jerked away from him. "Yeah. Robots implies that they don't have free will."

"Right, I'll remember that. Frames?"

"Yeah, frames are robots, basic AI programed into their head, the can perform most tasks, that humans can, just more efficiently, and they also don't get tired, nor board. They do get time off, which I've heard they spend powered down, by choice."

"OK. Right. Cayde said to get some rest, but we don't have a room, that one I slept in last night was temporary."

Nova glided off, Matt walking carefully after her, focusing on not falling over.

He didn't do much for the rest of the day, mostly wondered around the tower, taking it all in. a second chance at life, a chance to make a real difference. If what all these Guardians said was true.

His new room felt bigger than the one he had slept in the previous night. He didn't care that much though, he hit the pillow sleeping.

She moved quickly though her old home, forge weapon held tight against her shoulder. Her movements wasted no energy, hell she'd even turned off her running lights. Movement caught her attention, gun snapping round. The thing leapt at her, she pulled the trigger, the round punching though it. It collapsed, and before it hit the ground, she had spun and fired again obliterating the creature trying to hide in the shadows around the edge of the room.

 _Shit_

She was surrounded, no way out, nothing left, just her, a gun, 30 shots and way more than thirty targets.

They ran through the door, the larger ones brandishing swords.

 _Well, if they want to die, I guess it'd be rude to not oblige._

The gun's report echoed loud in the large room, the whine of charging capacitors constant. She fired, spun, fired again. ducked, fired, reloaded. Move away from the sword, aim fire, aim fire. The creatures heads exploded in a mess of bone and ash. Her sensors detected movement behind her.

 _Fuck_

She ramped up her core. Time slowed down, the sword moving femtometres for one of her subjective seconds. She checked the path of the sword. She needed to move. She couldn't move fast enough.

 _Shit_

She powered down her "nervous system" shutting off all feeling. She had failed. Almost. Just one thing left to do.

 _RUNPROGRAM: UNTILL_THE_END_

She spun around, sword ripping through her toughened plasteel armour. She held up the gun, her finger closing on the trigger. The creature evaporated, the sword crumbling into ash. She collapsed, power running low throughout her system. She ran a system diagnostic.

 _REACTOR OFFLINE, CONATINMENT BREACHED_

 _MAIN CONDUITS BREACHED, LEGS NONFUCNTIONAL WITHOUT FLUID PRESSURE._

 _UPPERBODY FUNTIONAL._

 _POWER LOW_

 _POWER LOW_

Aria shut off the diagnostic system. The gun, sensing its user running out of energy, sent the remaining charge back though her. She had minutes now, maybe an hour.

Another creature picked her up, dragging her by an arm. Back though her labs, her bunker. Her home. She reached out to the bunker systems. She needed something, anything. Nothing responded.

She was thrown bodily though a door, landing in a heap. Did they think she was dead.

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"That's Arias local. Aria? Oh shit, that though the reactor. She's on backup power."

Human and Exo voices. Someone, by the sound of it, several someone's had survived the initial attack. She detected movement, someone propping her up against a wall.

"ARIA!"

 _vocal reboot in progress_

She turned on her running lights.

"Oh thank the traveller, she's not gone yet."

She looked up, moving as little as possible to conserve her little remaining power.

 _vocal reboot complete_

"You lot alright?"

"Mostly. They locked us in here almost an hour ago. We've been trying to get out since. No luck."

She scanned the area. Damn it the one room that was not near the escape routes.

"Yeah, even if we did get out, we would've been killed by those monsters." One of the Exos spoke up. "They killed almost everyone. My group lead, Serena, Carlos, Tim, Jane…"

Aria activated her secure line.

 _xWAR_ARIA_

 _oJENIFER_

 _CALM DOWN. PANICING WILL JUST MAKE EVERYONE MORE ON EDGE._

Jenifer shut up, midway through her sentence.

"You ok?" One of the humans, Steven looked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jenifer snapped at him. He took steps backwards, then turned towards the humans in the room, shrugging at them.

One of the advantages of being synthetic. You had full control over what your face showed. Jenifer had locked her expression down.

"So, Aria, you got any idea who it is? Do any of the warminds?"

She sighed, "No. That's the long and short of it, I'm afraid. And we aren't warminds anymore. Nia is gone, she broke off midcontact. I lost contact with CC seconds before transferring. The only one I think might still be around is Rasputin."

"Aria, just because you're in your local, doesn't mean that you're not a warmind. Just remember that."

Aria nodded at Jenifer. She sighed again, then spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"I hope you all understand that before we lost contact, WAR_RAS enacted CAHHREA WHITE."

A few gasps from the humans. The Exo's had already heard this via the bunkerwide broadcast.

"So, in accordance with that and my own protocol 99, UNTILL_THE_END, I have made some plans. We're all likely dead. I have this." She held out her hand, a holo of a small pistol appeared, "If it comes to that."

Everyone in the room as silent, the meaning of what she just said sinking in.

"I understand. Just make it quicker than whatever those bastards have in store for me." Steven said. He looked nervous, almost afraid. She could relate to that feeling now. Being afraid of dying.

What she didn't tell them was that she only had enough shots left for 7. And there were 8 of them.

The door was ripped open. Creatures stomped in, swords held over their shoulders.

Jenifer helped Aria to her feet. She also donated all of her remaining backup power.

 _xWAR_ARIA_

 _oJENIFER_

 _THANK YOU_

Aria restarted all remaining subsystems. Targeting data came online, comms tried, and failed to connect to the bunker mainframe. Her lights rose to full power, glowing white rings in place of eyes, and lines running down her neck before vanishing behind her armour.

The creatures stomped towards them, grunting in some odd language. The all moved in unison, swinging the swords off their shoulders, holding them ready to lunge forward.

She nodded once. "It's been an honour to know all of you. I'm sorry."

The creatures started to move, drawing their swords back and aiming at the group.

She moved, faster than they thought possible.

She pushed her core processes as fast as they could go, her hand pushing against the wall, launching herself forward. The creatures started to lunge.

Her hand came up, a gun popping out of a concealed port in the wrist. She twisted in the air, her aim moving across the last remaining members of her bunker. She fired, each shot leaving the barrel aimed straight for their heads. A quick death, and painless.

Steven was the first, and as she aimed at the second member of their little group, she saw his head jerk backwards, his limbs go limp. She blocked that region of her vision. The next five shots cracked out amongst the silence. She finished spinning, aiming at Jenifer.

She opened one last comm line

 _xWAR_ARIA_

 _oJENIFER_

 _GOODBYE JENIFER._

 _xJENIFER_

 _oWAR_ARIA_

 _GOODBYE ARIA. GODSPEED. WAIT, NO. YOU ONLY HAD 7 SHOTS?_

 _xWAR_ARIA_

 _oJENIFER_

 _YES. I WILL DIE AT THEIR HANDS. I'M SORRY. GOODBYE._

She cut the line, Jenifers head snapping backwards with the impact.

She felt a lateral acceleration, damage reports sliding across her vision. She shut down all systems, shunted her core programming and processes into long term storage and died.

-X-

Rasputin felt the loss of each of his siblings. He would mourn, in time. He paused, scanning the whole planet for anything from any of them, quickly expanding his search to the entire system. He returned nothing but echos, final calls for assistance and goodbyes. No matter, he still had a job to do.

 _ABHORENT_IMPERITIVE: WARNING, TRAVVELER EXIBITING SUSPICIOUS POWER FLUCTUATIONS. EXECUTE_ _ **ABHORENT IMPERITIVE**_ _._

 _ALL WEAPON SYSTEMS ANSWERING CLEAR, CARDIOMETRIC WAEPONS READY._

 _ **LOKI CROWN**_ _IS ACTIVE._ _ **ARURA KNIVES**_ _AWAY._

He shut down his bunker, sealing it off from the world. No one would get in, nothing would get in, or out. He had completed all his directives, bar one.

 _ **YUGA SUNDOWN**_ _ACTIVATED. PROTOCOL SWITCHING TO_ _ **MINDNIGHT EXIGENT**_ _. LOKI CROWN CONFIRMED SUCESSFUL. WAR_RAS OUT._

His final broadcast to WAR_CC was brief and full of his code words. He didn't leave his external sensors on long enough for a reply to come though. His last broadcast, it would turn out, till the world forgot him. But he wouldn't. He would never forget. Anything.

 **Wow, I've managed to write over 7k words. Thanks for reading this far. I don't have a solid upload schedule (sorry not sorry XO), but I'm hoping to have the next chapter up soon. probably won't be as long though. Sorry about all the space word babble at the start, I'm a massive space nerd.  
Hopefully, I'll not have to write that much detail on space for a while.  
For those who read though, but didn't get some of the abbreviations, MECO stands for Main Engine Cut Off. this happens when the main stage for orbital burn is nearly out of fuel, and is turned off before decoupling. Max Q is the maximum dynamic pressure exerted on the rocket on assent, if it gets too high the rocket would collapse in on itself. To avoid this, the engines are run at 100% in the low atmosphere once a certain speed is achieved, so that Max Q is passed safely.  
Again, thanks for reading, please leave a review if you've got the time, any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**

 **Till the next chapter.**


	2. A New Life

"Right, guardians. Today, well, I guess today you find out what we are, what we stand for and, most importantly, why? So, first things first, how would you fight someone stronger than you?" Shaxx seemed to not be shouting, but if he wasn't, Matt defiantly didn't want to hear him when he was. A hunter near the front yelled out "Don't get hit."

Shaxx nodded "Yeah, I guess that works. So, how do you fight an opponent that is faster than you?" A titan in the middle of the pack yelled "Hit them harder than they hit you."

Shaxx grunted, "Yes, in principle. Right, all you lot haven't fought yet this life, not properly anyway. So, let's get started. Form two lines, person opposite you, your job is to make them stop fighting. Anything goes, bar light manipulation. FASTER" Shaxx suddenly switched to shouting, and the hall was buzzing with movement immediately. Matt joined in the end of the line, facing off against a titan about 6 feet tall. He nodded at his soon to be opponent, then Shaxx walked down the line, telling them all to go in their pairs to separate rings, and not to start until he said so, else you'd have to be fighting him. He said the last part with such sadistic glee that it almost sounded like he wanted someone to start before his call. They all had a ring, there were over 50 pairs in the hall, Shaxx yelled "THREE... TWO... GO!"

Clearly counting wasn't high on his list of teaching points.

The titan sprung towards him, swinging a fist downwards as she did. Matt jumped backwards, the punch missing him, just. He responded with a quick jab to the titans' helmet. She jumped backwards as he hit her, and she was hardly fazed by the attack. Matt moved in, blocking one punch then grabbing her arm when she threw the second punch, pulling her towards him, bringing his elbow round in close, smacking it into the side of her helmet. They both spun away, the opening exchange lasting barely 3 seconds. He could hear some groans from around him, some guardians clearly not taking Shaxx's advice seriously when it came to not being hit.

He ducked as a lightning fast jab came rocketing towards his helmet, spinning and hitting her squarely in the chest with his heel. She shrugged it off, grabbing him by his armour and bodily throwing him across their ring. He landed hard, rolling backwards and stopping on his feet. He jumped forwards, spinning in the air, a foot whipping out, the kick hitting the Titans helmet again. He landed, leveraging his momentum to land a heavy punch on her helmet. She staggered backwards, and he lunged forwards, charging straight into a vicious hook, spinning him around. He felt a weight slam into him, a strong arm snaking round his neck.

"You gonna give in, or am I gonna have to make you?"

Matt hunched his shoulders as best he could, falling forwards, tucking his head. He felt the impact on his shoulders, and felt the vice loosen around his neck. He rolled through over the Titan, turning and punching down hard. Her helmet dented slightly with the impact. He moved backwards, hands held up in a close guard. The titan rolled over, pushing herself up. She shook her head, before running straight at him. He dodged left, and was carried backwards by a massive hook that he dodged right into. He felt his helmet dent and yanked it off. He could feel his muscles burning from the fight. Whoever he was fighting also seemed to be tiring, her punches were more sluggish.

She turned and ran at him again. He breathed out. In. Out. Jumped, spinning feeling an impact, spinning him round faster. He landed hard on one leg, kicking out with the other. He felt the kick connect, hitting the Titan in the helmet. He heard something crack, several somethings when he tried standing on his right leg. The tian went down like a ton of bricks, her helmet caved in.

"Ah, jesus fuck." Matt slumped down, landing heavily on the floor. Shaxx gestured to the two ghosts, both of whom zipped forwards to start healing their guardians rather substantial injuries. Nova passed a blue light down him, her voice filled with genuine concern, "Matt, your foot broke when you kicked her in the head, and well, uh, you broke every bone. It'll take me a few minutes to fix up. Aside from that, over 15 torn ligaments, 10 of them serious. Sever bruising to most of yourself, and possibly a mild concussion from a punch."

Hearing this, Matt winced, "So, titans hit hard, even when you're the one doing the hitting."

A small chuckle from Shaxx, more a snicker than anything else.

"Yeah, something like that." A female voice from across the small arena, slightly synthetic caused him to turn. His opponent had removed her helmet, revealing a metal face, "You didn't hit to light either, for a hunter that is. Good fight…"

"Matt." He finished, smiling. "And you are?"

"Name's Aria-1. Most people just call me Aria though."

"Well then, nice to meet you Aria. Please don't fight me again, at least not for a week."

She chuckled, "Yeah, I'll take you up on not fighting each other for a while. Not had a human push me that far in a while." She stood up shakily, clearly still slightly disoriented from the repeated hits to the head. She walked over to him, holding out a hand to help him up. He grabbed it, feeling her hand clamp down around his wrist. She yanked him to his feet, recently repaired by Nova. Shaxx looked at them both, his stance suggesting that he might actually be impressed.

"You two just had the longest fight I've seen from a pair of guardians that inexperienced." He sounded impressed too, "So, you've set your own standards. I'll be informing the other instructors of this. Good luck, Guardians." He sounded impressed, but the tone of his voice made it clear that he would now accept nothing less than that from the both of them. "You have the rest of the day to yourselves. I would advise rest, I believe that Amanda wants to take you lot out in ships tomorrow."

Matt hit the pillow snoring that night. Nova shrugged, left his armour on, and settled down. Matt slept like a log, she had noticed over the course of their short time together.

-X-

"Guardians Aria-1, Matt and ghosts 16451 and 16452 report to the Vanguard as soon as possible."

Matt groaned, he was just getting into this odd light manipulation lark. Aria, on the other hand, was flying through the air, mostly in straight lines for the moment. She skidded to a halt in front of him. She was wearing her helmet, so her expression was unreadable, but she sounded like she was having fun.

"Come on. Can't keep the Vanguard waiting."

"Give me a minute. Also, don't you mean can't keep Ikora and Zavala waiting. Cayde doesn't care." Matt chuckled, jumping upwards again. He pushed down with his light, feeling the air solidify beneath his feet. He pushed down against it, and felt half of it crumble away underfoot. He flipped, landing on his back.

Aria laughed, "You still haven't got it?"

Matt punched the padded floor, pushing himself up, "No. I don't get it, I do everything that they say. Picture the air as a solid, push down with your light, then jump again. And every time, something different goes wrong." Aria looks over at Nova, who seems to be finding the whole thing rather funny, "And _she_ isn't helping. Right, let's go."

"Matt, it's not like you're doing any worse than anyone else. It's just that you see everyone else managing to pull of the occasional light assisted jump. You're the only one who hasn't made a full jump yet, but you're also the one who is constantly"

"Landing on my back after flipping out." Matt finished. "I know. I'm the most consistent, but I'm only one who hasn't made a jump yet."

Aria shrugged, taking the steps two at a time to get to the Hall of Guardians. She walked through the opening, the three vanguard standing around the big table, Cayde looking even more board than normal.

"Ah, Matt and Aria-1. Good of you to show up. We have a job for you two." Cayde perked up a bit.

"Yes. Guardians, as I'm sure you are aware, FOTC like to have a few guardians among the ranks. We give there out to newer guardians, as it's a good chance for them to see some of what we protect, and maybe, but hopefully not, a real combat experience." Ikora spoke directly to them. "So, we've decided to put you two on the force for a while."

"Right, so, what do we do?" Aria jumped straight in with the question. She seemed eager to do something that wasn't sit though countless tutorial session on light manipulation and control.

"I believe that FOTC wanted Guardians to peace keep around some of the rougher areas. They didn't seem too confident with sending it too many of their guys without guardian back up, so I would assume that there is probably some tensions. For that reason, Matt, you will go into that post, Aria, you will be a part of a rapid response unit. Talk to Zavala about what you will be doing."

Aria nodded, and walked around the table towards Zavala, who started explaining what her job would be. "Matt, I believe Cayde wants to talk to you about the area that FOTC want you to patrol."

Matt nodded, and wondered over to Cayde, who looked thoroughly board by the entire conversation. "Matt, the area that FOTC want you to patrol is known for high levels of anti-human prejudice. That's why we're not sending Aria in there, she'd probably cause a riot just by being in that area."

"Right, so, I'm supposed to go into an area known for violence by myself."

"Unfortunately yes, FOTC doesn't want to commit there men and women to such a risky area."

Matt shrugged, "I'll see what I can do."

"Good, you start tonight. They have provided a set of standard FOTC body armour and suitable clothes to cover it. In addition, you have this" Cayde produced an auto rifle, engraved with the FOTC emblem and a serial number, "And this." Cayde produced a knife from his cloak flipping it over in the air, catching it by the blade and holding it out to Matt, "Oh, this knife is yours to keep. FOTC want the rifle back, so try not to lose it. That's it I think. OH, one more thing, round that area, not carrying a gun is odd, for you can have that visible. Try and hide the knife though, that's a hunter knife. See you later, good luck."

Matt nodded, "Thanks. I'll see you in a week or two then." He turned to Aria, waving. She turned briefly from her conversation with Zavala and waved back. "Nova, you ready to go."

Nova materialised, "Yeah, but you know you can't speak to me while you're working, it would be hella suspicious."

"Yeah, I know." Matt sighed, stepping inside the lift, swinging the FOTC cloak around his shoulders. The lift started to descend, and Nova vanished into his now covered armour. "You know, I think the cloak gives us away a bit, ya know, for being "Plain clothes". Could you send it to storage, if I need it, I'll tell you." He felt the weight of the cloak disappear from his shoulders as he swung the gun strap over his shoulder, pushing the weapon under his arm, feeling it snap to his shoulder as the magnetic strips moved near to each other.

A display flicked on his ballistic glasses. _FOTC unit 3175 report to this location, that's your stake out for tonight. Travelers light._

"Well, let's go sit in a bar for the next 5 hours. Recon they think something might go down." Matt sounded slightly apprehensive.

"Maybe, that place is right on the edge of the area considered dangerous, and Exos and Awoken sometimes stumble into it by accident. I believe, yes, there was an altercation involving a group of "Humanists" and a group of Awoken in that bar last month. No one was seriously injured, but there was a fight." Nova practically spat the word humanist, clearly they were not the flavour of the month.

Matt jogged though the streets, noting that they got progressively worse for wear as he approached the street the bar was. "Well, here we are. Speak in five hours Nova."

"Good luck Matt. Not that you need it." Smiling Matt walked into the bar, looking for a discrete corner to sit in. He found one, right at the end of the bar. The bartender slid up to him, a greasy cloth over one shoulder. His clothes were covered in an apron, which looked like it might have hidden a stab vest.

"Uh, just a water please. Oh, and could you do me a favour and not serve me again." Matt handed over a small glimmer cube.

"Of course. You aren't here as far as I'm concerned." Matt smiled at him, leaned back against the wall, and looked over the rest of the bar. It was quite at the moment, but he know that it would get busier later on. The bartender handed him a pint of water, as well as a pint of lemonade.

"Thanks. I'll stay out of your hair now." Matt smiled, and the bartender walked off, pocketing a month's wages in the small cube of glimmer.

Hours passed, without issue, no one noticing him. An odd group, a Human, an Awoken and an Exo had walked in earlier, choosing to sit far away from the door. They had ordered food and drinks, and were now enjoying their meal. Matt realised that, despite everything, he was hungry. _Damn._ Well, nothing that he could do about that. He'd have to deal with that.

The bar quietened. Matt looked up from his seat, where he had been absentmindedly reading report from recent patrol mission in the cosmodrome. Mostly just report of more fallen having to be exterminated. He hadn't had a chance to go out on a patrol yet, though he and Aria hoped that they would soon as they seemed to be working on more advanced subjects in their training. A group of young men had just walked in. They all wore worn out jeans and tee shirts that carried the same logo, a picture of a human face in a green circle. Matt didn't need them a pointer to figure out that these were most likely Humanists. He dropped a hand to his knife, tensing slightly. He glanced over at the group, the odd trio. They didn't seem to have noticed the changing atmosphere in the bar. Matt breathed out slowly, hoping that the group of Humanists wouldn't notice them.

The group sat down in the middle of the bar, looking over it, seeming to absorb the fear from the other patrons. They looked across the bar, scanning everyone. They stopped, one of them pointing not too discreetly at the group. Matt stood up slowly, standing in the shadows, looking at the two groups. He stepped forwards, the group of humanists not noticing him. The trio at the table stood up to leave. He just noticed that they were all well-dressed. _Shit._ High quality clothing meant that they had money, something the Humanists would happily take off them. The turned to walk out, facing the band of young men.

"Why are you here?" The leader of the group stepped forward.

"A meal with friends and family. I could ask the same to you." The human replied, his voice gravelly.

"Drinks. Also, this is our turf. Can't you tell."

"Nope." The Awoken looked right though him, her eyes glowing a pale blue. She cocked her head to one side, curious, "Was there supposed to be a signpost, "This is my turf, go away", 'casue if there was, I didn't see one."

The human and the Exo laughed, and the group seemed to get more agitated. The leader turned to the group, "Why is this thing laughing at me? Oi, bot. Maybe you should go in for repairs. Though Vex didn't have feelings." The human stepped forwards.

So did Matt. "Enough. You lot," he shouted, "clear off, now. FOTC orders." He turned to the group, "Sorry about that."

"Who the fuck do you think you are, copper?" One of the group shouted. "There's like 10 of us, and one of you." the group chorused their agreement.

Matt drew his FOTC knife, throwing it in the air, not watching it spin, catching it by the blade, "So, me verses all of you. Of course, you're assuming that I'm FOTC." He threw the knife again. "Of course, I could be, but then again, maybe I'm not. You three," talking over his shoulder now, "leave."

They nodded, walking away from the group to the other door. The leader drew a small pistol. Matt moved.

He pushed the gun arm away, bringing his knife around hitting the man in the side of the head with the handle. Matt spun away, before jumping forwards, dancing between clumsy attacks. He hit one of them, spun away, watched as one of them hit another trying to hit him. Matt lashed out with his foot, connecting with ribs with a satisfying crunch. The person he kicked when down, and lay not moving. He pinged control, "Fight, at my position, send team for arrests and backup." He ducked, a hook sailing over his head. He grabbed the arm, slamming it down over his shoulder. "Copy unit 3175. Support on its way, ETA 3 minutes." He spun around, knife flashing up to block an incoming swing to his head. His arm coiled around his opponents, his free hand punching them hard in the face.

He spun, the leader getting up, knife in hand, already lunging at him. He kept spinning, narrowing the guys target. He felt a sharp pain in his side, hand moving down to grab the weapon. The man had already let go of the knife, as was running towards the door. Matt sprung after him, wincing in pain as the knife scrapped off a rib. He touched the area around the wound tentatively, hissing in pain. He burst through the door, seeing a bike zip away. He turned tracking it as he brought his gun up to his shoulder. He sighted the man though the 2x zoom, breathed in. Breathed out. Fired.

The recoil knocked the gun into his shoulder, he hissed as he felt the knife grate against his ribs again. He saw the bike wobble, before tipping over, a cloud of dust flying into the air. He heard the door slam open a second time, the group of three running out. One of them, the awoken female, ran up to him. He waved her away, staggering towards the wall.

"Nova. You ready?"

Nova sighed, "Yeah, just about." She materialised, scanning the knife, "Right, got it."

Matt nodded, yelling with pain as he pulled the knife out of his side. A blue beam shot out of Nova's eye, passing over the wound, the flow of blood slowing, then stopping as the wound sealed. He poked the place where the wound had been, fingers finding no trace of it. He smiled at the group, who looked mildly surprised at the appearance of a ghost. The Exo glanced at the human, who sighed, before handing over a lump of glimmer.

"I told you he moved too fast to be normal. I'm guessing hunter, by the way he used his knife."

"Sorry, I'm kinda new to this whole thing." Matt said, "But yeah, I'm a hunter. I think I've seen you three around the tower."

"Yeah, you probably have. I'm guessing you've been assigned to FOTC for a while, still in training?"

"Yeah." Matt nodded, "It's a pain, but I guess that my face is going to be going around the gangs now, since I just took out a bunch of their guys."

They all jumped to the side as a large police van honked its horn, before skidding to a halt, SWAT officers pouring out. Their team leader, a sergeant, jogged over to Matt, "You called in backup. We got calls of some shots as well, what is it?"

"Group of Humanists tried to attack these three." Matt gestured at the group, "I moved in, but it got heated. There's one of them about 100 metres thataway, he tried to run."

"Right oh son, we'll take it from here." The sergeant glanced at Nova, who was floating around near Matt, scanning the door, before repairing the damage done to the lock. "You're a guardian."

"Yeah, I guess that I'm not gonna be able to do this anymore." Matt shrugged, before switching to a private channel to Nova, "Thank god. That was so boring."

Nova chuckled, relaying the message to the three guardians standing nearby. They chuckled, before gesturing at Matt for him to follow them. He jogged to catch up with them.

"Sorry about you getting stabbed." The Exo said, "Still, good job back there."

"Thanks." Matt smiled at the compliment, "I'm Matt, and I'm sorry but I can't remember your names, although I swear that I've seen you competing in the Crucible."

"Yeah, you probably have." The Awoken nodded, "I'm Aleeza, warlock, this here is my brother, Akiva, titan, and our friend, Carina-23, also a titan."

Matt shook each of their hands, "Nice too meet you all. Wish it could have been in better circumstances, but still."

"MATT!" An Exo voice yelled at him, causing them all to spin around, to see an Exo sprinting at them wearing FOTC body armour. She took off, gliding in a dead straight line towards them, building up even more speed as she skated towards them. She landed hard, running the last few metres, "You alright? Nova told me someone stabbed you." She looked very concerned.

"Yes Aria, I'm fine."

"And who are these people?"

"Oh right, these are the people who I got stabbed for. Turns out, I didn't need to as they were guardians, but hey, I was just doing my job. This is Aleeza, a warlock, Akiva, a Titan, and Carina, also a titan. Akiva and Aleeza are brother and sister, and Carina is a mutual friend. Akiva, Aleeza, Carina, this is Aria, friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you." Carina, nodded at the other Exo, "Interesting, I've never seen another Exo like you. The reactor seems more streamlined. Hot damn, you could run a ship off of that." Carina sounded impressed, "You sure you're not some crazy experimental model?"

Aria shrugged, "Maybe, but mostly I clock slightly higher performance than other Exo's, about 30% if you average it all out."

Aleeza nudged Carina, "You've got competition." They both giggled like children.

Akiva spoke up, "Weren't you the two who fought each other on your first day training. Damn near killed each other from exhaustion too."

Matt nodded, "Yeah, that was us. Shaxx said he was impressed."

"Well, you too must be hella good fighters to impress Shaxx." Akiva nodded at Aria, "If you want, I can help with training. Not so much for you Matt, but if you want you can come along too."

Aria smiled, "Yeah that sounds great. Matt, you gonna tag along?"

Matt shrugged, "I guess, it'll be a good way to know how to beat you next time." He punched Aria lightly on the shoulder.

-X-

They all bundled into the lift, smiling. The trip up was spent talking, mostly between the three titans, in ways to best stop a hunter. Matt smiled, watching them bicker about prediction and power. Aleeza nudged him, "You listening in on that?"

Matt nodded, "Yeah, its funny."

"Why?"

"Well, the third thing they tell us in training is being predictable gets you killed. So they train us to not keep doing the same thing. Which is what they seem to be relying on a hunter doing, which is adorable."

Aleeza laughed, "Yeah, I suppose it is."

The lift ground to a halt, the doors opening, "Well, this is our stop. See you two around." Aleeza waved at them as they walked away.

"Yeah, I'll see you two for training tomorrow, I'll give you times later." Akiva waved. Carina looked over her shoulder, smiling at them, as she and Aleeza held hands, walking down the corridor.

The lift closed. Matt turned to Aria, "So how was your first and last day in FOTC?"

"Oh it was fun," Arias' eyes lit up slightly, "There was a shooting in the low west district, which we responded to, followed by a robbery in the north. Then it was quiet, before we got your call. Heard yours was boring.

Matt sighed, "Yeah, only thing that happened was a bunch of racists showed up, and I kicked their teeth in. And got stabbed. I wouldn't recommend it, it hurts." He laughed.

"So I've heard." The lift slowed and stopped again, they walked to their rooms, across the corridor from each other. "See you tomorrow them. Good night." Aria opened her door.

"Good night." Matt yawned. He closed his door behind him, unclipping his cloak and hanging it by its hood on the back of his door. He yawned again, unclipping his chestplate and leg armour, placing them on a table. He lay down, sleep coming easily.

-X-

Nova checked and rechecked the scan. She had been curious when Carina mentioned that Aria had a more powerful reactor. She'd reached out to Jenny, Arias' ghost, and asked for a scan. She got one. The reactor on board was insane. How could it operate as such high temperatures. She double checked the reading. Exceeding 15 million kelvin. She checked her database. Most Exo's ran on fusion cells that outputted about 500,000 kelvin. She should be a puddle of molten metal on the floor. She checked her cooling system. Optical lasers were scanning over the surface of the reactor, transporting heat away. That was way advanced. She hadn't seen anything like it. Nova opened a commlink to Jenny.

xG_ 16451

oG_16452

 _HOW IS YOUR GUARDIAN ALIVE? THAT TEMPERATURE SHOUD DESTROY HER!_

 _xG_16452_

 _oG_16451_

 _I DON'T KNOW. SHE DOESN'T EITHER. I TOLD IKORA, SHE HAD THE CRYPTARCY LOOK FOR ANY GOLDEN AGE TECH THAT COULD SUPPORT THIS TEMPERATURE. THEY FOUND NOTHING._

 _xG_16451_

 _oG_16452_

 _SO SHE'S A CRAZY EXPERIEMNTAL MODEL._

 _xG_16452_

 _oG_16451_

 _MAYBE. SHE HAS A LOT MORE PROSSESING POWER THAN MOST EXOS SEEM TO POSSES. HOWEVER, SHE DOESN'T HAVE ACCESS TO ALMOST 90% OF IT. I CAN'T PUSH HER INTO IT EITHER, AND BELIEVE ME I TRIED. WELL, WE TRIED. CAN YOU REDEFINE ME IN YOUR COMM SYSTEM PLEASE, MY NAME IS JENNY._

 _xG_16451_

 _oG_JENNY_

 _SORRY JENNY. PLEASE DO THE SAME FOR ME. MY NAME IS NOVA. GOOD NIGHT._

 _xG_JENNY_

 _oG_NOVA_

 _DONE. GOOD NIGHT._

Nova cut the connection. She set her processes to sort the new information and powered down.

 **Hi again. Thanks for reading this far.**

 **Surprised myself today, didn't expect to get this chapter out within a week of starting. It's a bit shorter than the last one (it's half as long) but I was suffering from writers block for a while. Anyway, got this out. Please tell me what you think so far.**

 **Massive thanks to AceArcalas (** **u/1784192/AceArcalas** **) for letting me use three characters from their fic's Tormented and Redacted. Seriously, you should go and read these two books they are really good. I *borrowed* Aleeza, Akiva and Carina.**

 **One note on the temperatures part. Yes, Arias' reactor is running as hot as the core of the sun, no I don't care how mad crazy batshit insane this is and yes I googled the temperature of the inside of the sun.**

 **Also, I really like writing AI. Next time, I'll send our two main characters out into the wild, stuff will happen, they'll meet an old friend, Matt finds out that he can fly** _ **REALLY**_ **well and Akiva kicks some butt. Probably.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **See you in the next chapter.**


	3. Crucible

Matt dropped down from his vantage point, the sniper round whistling though the space where his head had been half a second earlier. He gritted his teeth, Akiva was much faster than anyone he'd fought drew his knife, diving out of cover. A grenade formed in his hand, he spun, ducking, flicking his arm out, the grenade cannoning towards where he thought the Titan was. He leapt at the wall, his knife hot with energy. Stabbing it into the wall, he used it as a leaver to get back up to the higher ground. He heard the grenade detonate spun around, bringing his hand cannon up as Akiva leapt towards him, planting an uppercut on his jaw that snapped his head back as he flew head over heels, hitting the wall with a wet crack before landing slumped in a pile. Akiva crouched down next to Nova, who had just appeared over Matts' dead body.

"Don't turn your back kid. All it'll do is get you killed."

"Hey, brother dearest, don't you think it's a touch unfair to go all out on the poor bastard? He's hardly been here 6 months." Aleeza sounded pissed off.

"What, you had glimmer on him getting that kill?" Akiva sighed, "And no, it's not unfair. He's going out into the field soon, I'm sure of it. Him and Aria work really well as a team, they both have a decent grasp of their light, and Matt is near as damn it with his double jump. And he's developed a work around for that, if it fails him. Besides, I'd trust him to…" Akiva yelled in surprise as a black clad figure sprinted past him, a knife lodging itself in his shoulder. He yanked the knife out, Lex materialising to start healing the damage done. He didn't get far as Matt flew over a small box, scope glinting. Akiva barely had time to register the flash before he saw an all too familiar sight though Lex's' optic.

He heard Aleeza and Carina laughing, "Oh shut up." He grumbled as Lex resurrected him.

"But Akiva, I thought you were going to try." Carina could barely control her laughter, Akiva could picture the two of them giggling like children in their shared room, "If you were trying, he wouldn't have been able to hit that before you punched his head in."

"Gah. Well, I did say that I wouldn't hold back." Akiva smiled behind his helmet. He started running forwards again, building up momentum. Another black blur shot across his sight, and he slid to avoid the knife that Matt had thrown. He heard Nova, "Matt, this is the last kill. Akiva won't have a slam, and you don't have your gun, yeah. Just like we practiced." Akiva smiled again. He'd seen Matt's practice, hours spent duelling Aria, practicing leveraging a Titans brute force into an advantage for himself. He slid around a corner, pushing off the ground with one foot, launching himself at the hunter, who was crouching with his knife held ready. At the last moment, he spun away, knife glancing off of Akivas' armour.

"Last kill, right?" Matt yelled at him, "Good luck, my friend." Akiva could hear the grin in his voice.

"Luck. Yeah, luck." Akiva yelled back, trying to subtly close the distance between them. He couldn't do much when further away. Matt stepped backwards, matching Akivas pace.

 _Damnit. Gonna have to do something or he'll get me with one of his damned knives._

Akiva shrugged, and charged. Matt ran to his left, Akiva following him. He was gaining. He watched as Matt leapt up at the wall, knife glowing with solar light. Matt dug the knife into the wall, leaping off it, landing behind Akiva, who swore and spun around, blocking the knife blow with his arm. He punched, hard, feeling the hunters armour give slightly under the force of the blow. Matt staggered backwards, one hand holding his knife out, ready to lunge or slash, the other now clutching his broken rib.

"Sorry, kid." Akiva leapt forwards again, knocking the knife hand away, his other head, swinging forwards to catch Matt in the face. He didn't see the second knife, nor would he ever be able to tell where Matt had got it from, but as he swung, he saw a glint from near Matts other hand. He winced as he felt the knife slam into his chestplate, the blade white hot with solar light. It cut though his armour like a hot knife through butter, boiling the plasteel plating away. He felt his fist connect, a massive discharge of arc light rippling through Matts body, ionising his body, which vanished in a flash of light. He immediately felt the knife cool, jamming against the last layer of his armour. He yanked the knife out, dropping it quickly, as it was still hot to the touch. He heard the sound of a ghost reconstructing their guardian, and walked over to where Matt was now sitting, sharpening his throwing knife.

"Good fight kid." Akiva nodded at him as he looked up, "Almost got me at the end too." He clapped him on the shoulder, "Come on, let's go see how much my sister lost betting on you. Then I think Aria has a 1v1 with her."

Matt laughed, "Now that, that is a fight I don't want to miss."

-X-

Aria threw herself backwards, Aleeza's hand barely missing her face. She felt the energy discharge wash over her armour, stripping her shields. She grunted, responding to the attack with a vicious right hook. Aleeza jumped backwards, but the punch still connected. She flew sideways, hitting a nearby wall with a sickening crunch, her ribs shattered. Aria turned, jogging up to a box of special ammo synthesis packs. She crouched down, hand touching the top of the box. It vanished, and her ammo counter updated for 4 shotgun shells. She reloaded, slowly methodically.

Aleeza smiled mentally, watching Aria though Lena's optic. She reached down with her light, fixing her shattered body. She focused on this task, keeping the light held tightly within her control. She heard Lena whisper _Done._ She coiled her light, compressing it inside her chest. She felt it boil over, reaching a critical mass. She released it.

Aria was blown off her feet by the force of the expelled light. She turned around, to see Aleeza wreathed in flames, diving towards her, solar light swirling around her. Aria opened fire, the shots bouncing off Aleeza's light, not affecting her at all.

Aleeza grinned behind her helmet. She threw out her light, incinerating Aria in less than half a second. She landed, her light diming as she called it back. She closed her fist, the last light flickering out. She ran over to the door, grabbing her pulse rifle from the floor where she had dropped it before getting into melee combat. She saw Aria sprint around the corner, taking off and skating straight at her. She sighted up, methodically pulling the trigger. She felt the familiar kick of the pulse rifle against her shoulder, watching as Aria dropped to the ground, sliding behind a truck. Aleeza smiled, launching a compressed ball of solar light towards the truck. She watched as it brunt though the metal, firing 2 bursts at Aria when she shot out from behind the truck. She flinched, the unseen lightning grenade landing at her feet. She dived away, feeling it clip her feet, shredding the shielding. She grimaced, Aria knew that she was in a good position to win their last fight of the match. She swapped to her sidearm, hearing the familiar sound of a titan skating moving towards her. She leapt out of her cover, launching herself sideways, firing into Arias chest. She saw Arias shield shatter, and felt a bullet hit her in the stomach. She threw her light forward, hoping beyond hope that it would hit.

She saw the light impact on Aria's shoulder, spreading quickly across her body, destroying it. She yelled out in pain as Lena removed the bullet lodged in her stomach, before sealing off the wound and repairing the damage done. She heard Jenny reviving Aria, and walked over.

"Goddamn, how far can you reach with that?" Aria sighed, waiting for Jenny to transmat her back to the tower.

Aleeza shrugged, "Far enough." She vanished, and Aria felt a now familiar sense of weightlessness followed by a short fall onto the tower. She saw Matt, Akiva and Carina sitting down, leaning against the postmasters building. They stood up, all three of them smiling.

Matt jogged towards them, "Good fight." He smiled, "Aria, the vanguard want to see us, Aleeza, some titan was asking after you. She didn't say what for."

Aleeza nodded, walking off, Carina running after her. Akiva shook her head, "I'd better got going, Wei had something she wanted to talk about." He wondered after his sister, clipping his mark back onto his hip.

"Guardians 16451 and 16452, please report to the Hall of Vanguard immediately." A synthesised voice rang out over the tower PA.

"What did the vanguard want to talk to us about?" Aria looked at Matt.

"Not a clue. Probably something to do with training."

They walked past Shaxx, who was busy instructing another group of guardians. Only Ikora was in standing at the vanguards' table, "Ah, you two. Good job against Akiva and Aleeza. Those two are some of the best I've seen in the crucible. Cayde won a _lot_ of glimmer betting on you getting kills." She smiled, "You two both need ships, right?" They nodded, "Right, either of you flown before?"

"Not that I remember, but I might have." Matt shrugged. Aria shook her head.

Ikora nodded, "Right, well, you're going to have to know how to fly. Both of you go talk to Amanda, she should have some sims ready to run." They both nodded again, turning to leave, both of them smiling. Ikora watched them go, smiling. They both showed promise. She sighed, it would have been amazing if either of them were Warlocks. It had been years since Kabr, Pahanin and Praedyth had vanished. She still remembered the near emotionless Exo smiling, in a rare show of emotion as he left the tower, the Hunter shrugging when Brask told them to be careful, and Praedyth promising her he'd bring back all he could find for study. There hadn't been a warlock since who stood out like he had. She thought of the, of the…

Who? Who went into the vault? Kabr, Pahanin, was there another? She cocked her head to one side, thinking? Who? No, there wasn't anyone else? Was there… She snarled, hitting herself in the head, _REMEMBER._ Prae…, where did she know that name from. What name? Who was she thinking about? She shrugged, it would come back to her, she just needed some time to think about it.

She just needed some time…

-X-

"Ah, guardians, Matt and Aria, right? Amanda Holliday, shipwright. Ikora told me you two needed to learn how to fly?" She laughed, "Well, I guess that's my job for today." She leaned over the barricade, "Hey, Roni, could you do me a favour, make sure nobody takes anything. Cheers." She turned back to the guardians, "Right, flying. It's just like walking, but at high speed in 3 dimensions." She chuckled "Here we are, knew I had these somewhere." She opened a door, beckoning the two guardians in. "right, these are simulations of flying. I found them a while back." She pressed a button on the side, and the pods opened, showing a full cockpit, "Well, in you go. I'll see you both in a bit, they have a tutorial function, good luck."

Matt and Aria looked at each other, Matt shrugged, climbing into the pod, hearing the door sealing closed behind him. He opened a comm channel to Aria, "Good luck, I guess."

In her own pod, Aria smiled, "Yeah, good luck to you too. In a bit." She cut the commlink. "Jenny, you ready to go."

"Ready as I'll ever be."

-X-

"Right, let's see what this does." Matt pressed a button, a plethora of holographic screens appearing across the control panel, "Well, I passed the first test."

Nova mentally sighed, this could end up being a long day.

-X-

Matt looked across the reorganised heads up display. He held his hand out over the throttle control, "Reckon we're good to go Nova?"

Nova spun around looking at him, she shrugged, "Yeah, why not. Let's see what happened."

Matt lowered his hand, grabbing the leaver. He pushed it forwards.

A low rumble permeated the cockpit, the whole thing shaking. He looked forwards, though the front screen. Yep, moving upwards slowly. He looked over all the controls, letting go of the throttle. His hand floated over the controls. He moved, flicking one switch with his left hand, right hand grabbing the joystick, pitching the craft forward. The sound of the engines ramped up, a second pitch joining the low rumble. The pod shuddered, and he shot forwards. He yanked the throttle, the ship slowing down. He reached up, flicking another switch, feeling the craft start to fall. He pushed the nose forwards, building up speed. Grinning like a madman, he pulled back, a vapour trail snapping off the tail plane.

"Hey, Nova, shall we try going to space?"

"Yeah sure, why not." Nova sounded excited by the prospect.

Matt's grin widened, he pushed the throttle forwards. The sound of the engines shot into supersonic as he was slammed back in his seat. He pulled up, aiming at the skies.

"5 kilometres" Nova said, "10k. 15, 20…" She laughed, watching plasma build up along the lateral lines of the ship, rolling off the tail plane, distorting in the hypersonic wake.

Matt yelled, spinning the ship though 360 degrees. He cut the engines, "Nova, can you watch our velocity, keep the ship pointed along the same vector please."

"Yeah, yeah. Done." She laughed again, "How'd you know how to fly so well? You haven't been taught before now, have you?"

Matt shook his head, "No. Guess I know what I did in my last life then. Flying. Well, we're now in space." Matt hit another button, flipping the craft around.

"Guardian, have you been lyin' to me?" Amanda asked though the comm, "I ain't seen anyone fly like that in their first flight."

"Nope, not a word of a lie. Me and Nova reckon we've found out what I did previously. I think it's just instinct, muscle memory, and the like."

"Right, well, one last thing, since you've made orbit, reckon you can land it?"

Matt shrugged, "No idea, but it can't hurt to try." He hit the throttle, acceleration pushing him back into the seat again. He cannoned though the atmosphere, plasma rippling out behind him. Red lights started flaring up, showing temperatures rising throughout the ship. A jolt spun the ship, Matt fighting the controls as the ship rolled. He split the throttle control, firing each of the engines in short bursts. A double crack ripped through the ship as Matt fought the ship back onto a stable heading. He glanced across the control screens, RADAR rebooting from atmospheric entry. A group of blips appeared.

"Nova, watch them." Matt pointed at the RADAR unit. Nova glided over to it, optic flicking across the three screens. She swore.

"What?" Matt snapped, pushing the now damaged ship.

"Those things on RADAR are fallen fighters. We will not be able to outrun them, at least not in this state. You have one gun." Nova sounded worried.

"Right, one gun, one knackered ship, 5 fallen fighters." Matt let go of the controls, cracking his knuckles, "time to get to work."

He spun the ship, banking hard left. The fallen craft followed him, smaller blips racing after him on the RADAR. An alarm squawked.

 _Missiles._

He hit a button, reactivating the RCS system. It was designed for use in space, but he had to try. He pulled up, hard.

The ship flipped through 180 degrees. Matt smiled thinly, he could feel the ship trying to flip back around. He waited a heartbeat.

And another.

 _NOW._

He threw the throttle forward, the ship screaming in response. He pressed the trigger in the joystick, the whole ship rattling even more, as one, two, three of the trailing fighters burst into flames, tracer rounds riddling their hulls.

"Nova, I can't keep up this fight. The ship will give out if I do another high G turn." Matt yelled over the sound of 5 separate alarms.

"Fine. Got to the city, there's AA there." Nova yelled back.

Matt nodded, readjusting his heading to point him back at the city. He slowly opened up the throttle, eyes glued to the screens reporting on structural integrity. He flinched slightly as part of the port wing lit up red.

"Hey, guardian bearing 215, you're coming in a little hot, woudnt'ya say?" Amanda drawled, "Do us all a favour and don't crash into the tower."

Matt grunted, "Yeah, 2 fighters on my tail, failing structure and no more bullets. I need city AA on now, and I'll slowdown in time, trust me." He squinted at his range to tower, dropping even lower to the ground, trees rippling in the wind left in his wake. He started to pull up, cutting the engines, gently easing the plane up. He looked forwards, watching as guns along the wall rotated, pointing towards him.

5k out. He heated up the engines again, Nova hissing as she heard most of the ship scream in response.

A beep. Proximity warning. Missile lock as well.

"SHIT." Matt yelled into his comm, "Amanda, get those guns going, NOW. I'm dead if these missiles hit me."

"Matt, you're dead if the guns hit you." Amanda shouted back, "Ah shit. Good luck." She hit the button.

Matt saw the massive guns start to spin up. 3k out. He pushed the ship, not listening to the alarms.

2k.

1.

The guns fired, round ripping though the sky. He felt the craft wobble in their supersonic wake.

"They're down." Matt breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on, guardian. I didn't do that for fun, ya know. Hurry up and land before that damn ship falls out of the sky." Amanda grinned wildly. This kid had some crazy good instincts, that was for sure.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going as fast as I can. Which isn't much, based on the battering this lump took." Matt smiled at Nova, who spun her shell around.

-X-

Matt left the pod, grinning like a mad man, "Hey, uh, I left a mess on the sim hanger, engines cut out. Sorry." He shouted over to Amanda.

"Oh, shut up. At least you managed to land." Aria shouted back, "I made a mess of the tower."

Matt laughed, "Hey, at least you didn't actually crash."

Amanda looked up from where she was busy repairing a Sparrow, "Hey, you two. Good jobs, both of ya. Aria, I'll see you again soon, Matt, just learn the limitations of the ship, you should be fine." She waved an oily hand at them both, before ducking back behind the sparrow, the clatter of tools starting up once again.

Matt sighed, smiling again.

"You smug git." Aria punched him on the shoulder, "Just give me a few more shots, I'll land better."

"OK, OK. Chill out. You're still much better at light manipulation, and our shots are about equal. I'd say, in total, that makes us equal." Matt was still smiling when the intercom spoke:

 _Guardians 16451 and 16452 to report to Shaxx, immediately._

"Aw, shit. What does he want now." Matt whined, suddenly sounding very childish.

Aria shrugged, walking towards the crucible handlers desk, "No idea, but whatever it is, it's only pain."

"Yeah" Matt muttered, "Pain you can turn off."

-X-

"Ah ha, the two who tried to kill each other." Shaxx somehow managed to sound impressed yet board at the same time, "I hear you two work well together as a team. The vanguard wants to test you with no backup this time. In the safest live fire exercise ever invented…" he paused, Matt whispered to Aria, "oh god." She chuckled slightly.

"Rumble. Just you, your guns and your wits. No one watching your back. Your opponents are waiting at Bannerfall. Good luck."

They both nodded, moving over to terminals near the quartermaster.

"What the hell are we gonna do? No practice, no previous experience." Matt took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, "Wait, when did I get this?" He held up a handcannon, a sleek model usually sold by the quartermaster.

"A gift, the sender didn't leave a name." the quartermaster didn't look at them, "He said you would like it though."

Matt shrugged, holding the weapon one handed, aiming down the sights at the wall. He liked the weight. He shrugged again, dropping it into his hip holster.

Aria slung her shotgun and auto rifle over her shoulder, nodding at Matt before vanishing. Matt picked up his sniper rifle, an older model that you couldn't take on patrol. He stowed his knives, one resting on his thigh, one in the small of his back and one on his left wrist. He breathed out slowly, calming his nerves. "OK Nova, let's go."

Nova spun her whole shell, trasmating them over to the Bannerfall tower. He looked at his opponents.

Akiva, checking his shotgun, tilting it left then right, before racking the pump.

Aleeza, sighting in her pulse rifle, and floating about a metre off the ground.

Carina, checking her grenades were where she expected them to be, and resetting a fusion rifle.

A warlock he didn't recognise stood stock still, hands glowing gently with solar light.

Aria, reloading her autorifle, arc lightning flickering around her arms.

"Rumble." Shaxx's voice announced, "Kill everything, and watch your back."

Matt felt weightless for a second, then fell, landing on the concrete floor. He drew his new handcannon, saw the display on his heads up flick red as the RADAR came online.

-X-

Aria dove behind the box, getting up to a crouch. The sniper round whistled past her head. She tensed, leaping upwards, pushing herself up faster using her light. She aimed at the hunter, pulling the trigger, leaning forwards to counter the rotation. Bullets splattered against his shield, draining it in a flash of light. She moved her aim up, tracking her target as she fell. Her bullets smashed into his armour, she saw his head fly backwards, his body slumping to the ground

…

…

"ARIA!"

She snapped her head around, just in time to see Carina slide up to her, energy compressing around the barrel of her rifle.

-X-

Akiva leapt over the box, shotgun slamming against his shoulder as he fired. He didn't see Matt fly backwards from the force of the blast, he was already turning around, scout rifle drawn, firing 5 shots straight at his sister, who leapt forwards, throwing her light forwards, desperately trying to gain an upper hand. He spun left, feeling the heat of the solar attack. She landed, already drawing her sidearm, shooting from the hip. He snapped off a hook, arc energy discharging though her. She dissolved in a flicker of light, and he ducked, narrowly avoiding a sniper round.

He'd missed the grenade, which detonated at his feet.

-X-

Matt winced as he saw Akiva fly into the air, the grenade he'd thrown landing perfectly. He spun around, a noise alerting him to a warlock as he hurtled around a corner, bleeding from a wound in his side. Matt snapped off a shot, clipping him in the side of the head. The warlock spun, collapsing. Matt sighted up, finger resting gently on the trigger. He breathed out.

Held it.

The recoil jerked his shoulder back, watching as Carina stumbled, stunned by the shot, but not dead, Matt having missed her head. He flicked his left hand forwards, a knife launching towards her. She looked around, Matt saw the build-up of energy start, then stop as the knife hit her in the head. He slid forwards, bullets peppering the wall behind him.

He felt fire cover his back.

-X-

Aleeza spun, pulse rifle shots ripping though Aria shield as she desperately tried to duck behind cover. Aleeza hurled two balls of solar energy at the ground near the boxes, watching as Aria scrambled backwards to avoid the flames. She calmly aimed at centre mass, pulling the trigger, letting the kick of the weapon lift her aim to Arias head. Aria threw herself to the side, hand flying out. Aleeza felt the grenade hit her, dropping onto the floor, lightning erupting out of it, shredding her shield.

A shot whistled past her head, Aria slumping with a bullet hole in her helmet. She spun, bullets spattering across her back and side.

She coiled her light, working faster than she had last time she resurrected herself. She threw it forwards, Akiva wincing at the sun that had formed over his sisters body.

She grinned, leaping forwards, light flicking outwards.

-X-

Akiva winced, his sisters' sudden resurrection surprising him. He let his light flow forwards, focusing it in his fist. He planted his feet, jumping at the last second, bringing his hands down, his light racing along the floor. Aleeza disintegrated, and he heard a scream from behind as the other warlock tried and failed to escape the wave.

He heard a shot, snapping loud in the air.

He spun, shotgun rising as he saw Matt fly over the head high wall, glowing with light.

-X-

Matt snapped off a shot, Aria turning to dust. He spun, sprinting across the map in the direction of the sound of a fist of havoc. He leapt over the wall, snapping of a shot which vaporised Akiva, who was halfway around turning.

He kept spinning, seeing Carina slid round the wall out of the corner of his eye.

Her rifle lighting up, energy coiling around the linier accelerators. It lashed out, and he saw the void energy destroy the arm he held up to protect himself.

-X-

Carina leapt forwards, her fist meeting the warlocks' jaw, the force of the punch snapping his neck. She snapped her head around, holding the fusion rifle one handed as she held an arm up, a force barrier forming around it. She fired the rifle, the recoil throwing her aim off. She ducked as Aria's fist whipped over her head, she returned a punch to the gut. Aria's shield shattered, as Carina felt an elbow slam into the back of her helmet.

-X-

Aria spun collecting her light, smashing her arms against the floor, Matt vaporising instantly as the energy washed over him.

She sprinted forwards, shots knocking chips off of a nearby wall. She ducked around the corner, to see Aleeza's helmet. She could picture the grin on the warlocks face as she felt heat sear though her armour.

…

…

 _Spinning. Armour shredded by an unknown weapon. Pain. Reactor damaged._

 _CAUTION. REACTOR FAILING._

 _REACTOR FAILING._

 _REACTOR FAILING._

She could hear someone yelling, her vision focused for a second, before dissolving into static again.

 _REACTOR FAILING._

 _POWER LOW._

 _REACTOR FAILING._

 _POWER LOW._

 **Hi.  
** **Sorry about not getting this up last week, had a bit of writers block and I've got some exams coming up.  
Anyway, I'm happy with where I left this.  
Thanks for reading this far (and putting up for my C in GCSE english writing), if you have anything in the way of critique/advice please leave it in a review, I'm open to feedback (please tell me what you think of the story so far ect.)**

 **And a quick question, what do you think of the fights so far? Are they paced right, or do they go on for too long (do you end up going "just hurry up and more along already") or do they need to be more fleshed out (do they need to have more detail)?  
Thanks for reading all my gibberish at the end, hope you enjoyed.  
See you in the next chapter.**


	4. Scout

"ARIA!" Matt yelled, sprinting over to her. "Shaxx, stop the match, guardian down. Get me medevac for Aria." He was shouting down his mic, panic creeping into his voice, "Aleeza, Aria needs help, now."

"Yeah, I'm on my way." Aleeza responded, Matt saw her on his HUD, sprinting towards them.

"Jenny, what happened?"

"I don't know." The ghosts' voice shook slightly, "I revived her, that was normal, I'm sure of it. Then she just shut down. It looks like a maintenance cycle, but she can kick herself out of one of them…" She trailed off, her voice sounding constricted.

"I came as quickly as I coul…" Aleeza stopped mid-word, sliding to a halt next to Matt, who was crouched next to Aria, "What?"

"Jenny says that something failed, but she doesn't know what. It looked like a maintenance cycle, but Jenny says that Aria can kick herself out of one of them."

A triple boom shook Matt right to his bones. A trio of redjack ships dropped down, two of them hovering, the third descending to land. Two frames disembarked, running over to where Aria lay. They lifted her up, gently placing her on a stretcher, before running back towards the landed ship, Jenny zipping along next to her guardian.

Matt stood stock still, blinking inside his helmet.

"Matt?" Nova materialised in front of him. He didn't react. Nova sighed, "Matt, she should be fine. Her reactor was doing something weird, there were loads of power fluctuations. Nothing they can't fix back at the tower."

Matt nodded, as the second ship floated down, hovering about half a metre off the ground. A redjack stood next to the cargo hatch, "You five, I'm taking you all back to the city."

Akiva leapt, landing easily on the ramp. Carina and the warlock jumped next, the warlock adding a burst of speed from his light to get him all the way up. Matt looked around, eyes scanning for anything that could have caused Aria to fail.

He shrugged, jumping gracefully into the ship. He felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see Carina, "She'll be fine. I've seen Exo's go through worse."

Matt took off his helmet, smiling thinly, "That's the thing, Carina, I haven't. Ever. I can't remember much about my past, but I remember seeing a bulletin about the Exo program once. Saying it was failing. That's it." He sat down, hanging his head, "She'll be fine, she'll be fine." He muttered to himself, trying to convince himself of that.

Nova materialised hear his head, humming a simple four note tune. Matt smiled again, prompting Nova to hum it again, Matt singing a simple phrase an octave lower. "Yeah, I guess she wouldn't give up that easy." He looked up, hand touching his wrist to open a comm channel, "Cayde."

"Matt. Heard what happened to Aria. She's just arrived at the infirmary, Zavala's down there now checking on her."

"Yeah, Carina said she's seen Exos' get back up after worse."

"Uh…, give me a sec guardian, there's a titan inbound." Cayde cut the signal.

"Good luck." Matt muttered, leaning back, the ship shuddering as the hatch opened, the tower visible. They jumped out, landing hard on the plaza. A titan shot up the stairs, sprinting towards them, skidding to a halt in front of Akiva, a crazy grin on her face.

"They approved it." She barely stopped before shooting off again towards the hanger.

"Wha… I'll be down to see Aria in a sec, I need to go check something. Wei, wait." Akiva sprinted after the titan.

Aleeza sighed, "Come on. Let's go see Aria, maybe the meds know what happened."

-X-

 _/DATA_STREAM_RESET_

 _/SYSTEM REBOOT IN PROGRESS_

…

…

…

 _OS_BOOT_COMPLETE_

 _USER/ARIA-1/READY_

 _MIND CORE SAFE_

 _ITERATION_SEP_PREV_QUERY: 1_

 _ISOLATE_STORED_STATE: 1_

 _SAFE?_

 _SAFE = 1_

 _/SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE_

Aria groaned, static slashing her vision, slowly resolving, "Hey Jenny."

"Aria. Oh, thank the Traveller." Jenny's optic lit up, "How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Still got some visual glitches, I'll sort them out ASAP."

A hunter opened the door, helmet on. Aria cocked her head to one side, "Matt?"

"Yes." He twisted the helmet, the seal releasing with a hiss of air. He placed the helmet on the table next to the door, "Do you mind if I come in?"

"No." Matt opened the door fully, stepping though. He wore a full set of hunter armour, "What do you think?" He held his arms out.

"Looks good. The leaves seem a bit over the top." Aria blinked several times, static washing across her vision again.

"Nah, they look cool. Oh, Zavala said you might want this." Matt held out his hand, a strip of fabric folding outwards, facing towards Aria, "Jenny said she though you would like the design."

Aria smiled, her lights growing almost painfully bright as she reached out and took the mark, "Thanks. What?" Matt's head was cocked to one side, looking at her hand.

"You have a lot more running lights that any Exo I've seen." He shrugged, "Guess that's what comes with the crazy reactor, I guess."

Aria realised that he was squinting slightly, ducking her lights' intensity, "Sorry. So you're a hunter now."

Matt shrugged again, "Eh, always was, just allowed to actually do stuff now. Come on, Jenny's got something to show you."

She swung her legs off the hospital bed, servos whining in protest, "What is it?" She shouted though the door, pushing herself off the bed. Jenny shot through the door, "You OK?"

Aria waved a hand at the ghost, "Yeah." She walked over to the door, servos slowly loosening up. She windmilled her arms, fists clenching and unclenching, testing all of her systems again.

She opened the door, lights dipping on her hands. She breathed in, the armour shining in the light. The chestplate and shoulderpads were much bulkier than her training gear. She picked up the chestplate, surprised by the fact that it was lighter than she was expecting.

Jenny zipped over to the armour, "Give me a second." A blue light scanned across it, "Got it. Stand still."

Aria stood stock still, watching Jenny scrunch up, compressing her shell. She felt heavier, as if someone had dropped a weight around her neck, "OK, done. You're a titan properly now."

Matt smiled, one of his tight smiles, "Come on. Race ya." He placed his helmet over his head, "Oh, you might want to reorganise your HUD, the defaults are usually terrible."

Aria shook her head, picking up the helmet. She flipped it over in her hands, the visor was covered by protective plating, three points of light showing from what she presumed were cameras. She flipped the helmet back over, placing it over her head. It sealed to her suit with a hiss of air.

Icons flickered across her vision, a motion tracker came online, the shunted over to the top right of her field of view. Ammo counters flickered on, reading nothing. Teambio booted below the tracker, showing her basic life signs for herself and Matt. She grinned, opening a comm channel to him, "That race you were talking about…" she tailed off, waiting for a response. She set off jogging towards the door.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Where too?" She picked up her pace slightly, getting used to the greater freedom of movement that she had with the new armour."

"Vanguard. They wanted to talk to us as soon as you were feeling fine."

"OK." She kicked up her speed by another notch, running properly now, "GO!" She yelled, shooting past Matt, who was standing at the door.

-X-

Matt yelled as she shot past him, setting off after her. He sprinted around a corner, seeing Aria disappear around the next one. He shot around the corner, picking up speed. He was gaining on her. They flew out of the hanger, Aria slowing down to take the sharp turn to the Plaza.

Matt threw himself into the corner, jumping off the wall, revelling in the greater movement he had in proper armour. He saw Aria slow down slightly, taking the stairs three at a time.

He leapt forwards, throwing himself over the railing behind the Cryptarchs tent. He landed sprinting, tearing past Aria. He skidded to a halt next to the Crucible quartermaster.

"Ah, Matt." Cayde shouted though the archway, "Is Aria with you?"

Matt grinned in his helmet, "Nearly, we had a race. She cheated, I won"

Aria slid to a halt next to him, "God, this armour is so much better than that crap we had in training. Hey Cayde. Is Matt telling you about how I cheated?"

"No." The two hunters replied simultaneously, Cayde's smile grew, "Enjoy. Ikora, you said you needed a patrol team for a bit." He leaned towards them, "There's some stuff being ironed out right now, but it's looking like there's a plan for retaking Luna. And we're gonna need more guardians, so do good here, yeah?"

"Guardians," Ikora said from the main table, "We need a small team on the ground for a couple of days. Just need you to do some scouting and recon for us. You'll rendezvous with your third in the cosmodrome here," She pointed to her map, both Nova and Jenny moving forwards to see where she was pointing, "We're expecting it to be low risk, but go prepared." They nodded. Matt leaned towards the map, looking over the area, "Where is it you want us to recon? Also, why a full fire team for this? If it's low risk, we should be fine."

Ikora nodded, gaze returning to the map, "Your recon point is here, find out what the Fallen are up to, if anything, and if they have something up, find it and report back. We'll tell you what to do from there." She paused, turning away from them, "Have you heard of Kabr and Pahanin?"

"Yeah. Why?" Matt asked, sounding curious.

"Then you'll know where they went. The Vault of Glass. We haven't heard from either of them for years. We have been forced to conclude that they are likely dead. The consensus decided that, after their status as MIA was changed to KIA, that guardians must travel outside the City in groups of three or more." She turned around, lightning arcing around her eyes, "That's why." Matt wasn't sure, but did her voice just crack slightly.

"Ikora." Cayde threw a scrunched up piece of paper at her, pointing to his eyes, then looking pointedly at Matt and Aria, "Go, prepare. Get another round in on the range. Check your guns, Matt, take more knives that you think you will need. Aria," Cayde shrugged, "I dunno, I'm not a titan. Mostly the same though. Check your shot and weapons. Good luck, you'll smash it, I'm sure." He grinned broadly at them both. They turned to leave, just catching "You alright? You don't normally do that." from Cayde, and a snappy "Yes" from Ikora.

-X-

Aleeza swung her ship down, flying low over the trees. She glanced at the navigation, seeing she was fast approaching her drop point.

"Lena, drop me as soon as we're in range."

"OK. Same as normal then, fly high, I'll give you a yell if I see something bad." Lena said, "Here you are. Transmat in 3, 2, 1…"

Aleeza felt weightless for a second, before falling a metre or so to the ground. She landed, aiming around with her pulse rifle. She stopped, squinting slightly at a patch of grass that looked slightly out of shape. She sighed, why must new guardians do this, hide, try to be clever. She stalked towards it, pulse rifle aims squarely at it, just in case. She saw a titan stand up, wearing armour that looked like it had been designed with fighting Orges or Cabal legionaries. She shuddered at the thought of fighting the monstrosities, ducking and weaving to avoid the constant stream of hot lead that their miniguns threw out. The titan cocked her head to the left, Aleeza stopped. She recognised that mannerism, the way the titan stood, confident, but not in a standing out kind of way, "Aria?"

"Yeah. Hi Aleeza. So you're our third."

"Yeah. Speaking of which, where are they?"

Aleeza tensed, seeing movement in the trees behind Aria. She raised her pulse rifle, advancing slowly towards the movement. A human shape walked out of the forest, a hunter slinging his sniper over his shoulder, "Looks clear. Oh, hi Aleeza. "

Aleeza nodded, "Hi Matt. Trust you two are good to go?"

They both nodded, "Right. Matt, you said you scouted ahead, you can take point. We'll be just behind you."

Matt nodded, turning and walking back towards the treeline, drawing his knife, Aria falling in next to Aleeza.

-X-

Matt hacked though another dense lump of thorns, ducking though the gap he created. He stood up, shouldering his sniper to survey the surrounding area. He scanned along the ridgeline from just inside the treeline, hidden almost perfectly. Hidden so well that Aria walked straight past him.

"Nice spotting" He jested, hearing her mutter something under her breath. He stalked forwards, crouched low. He saw Aleeza slid up behind him, stowing her pulse rifle in favour of her sniper, "Ready?" Matt asked, taking a few more steps forwards.

"Go." Aleeza shouted into the mic.

Matt sprinted forwards, a green blur on the muddy hill. Shots arced towards him, lumps of mud getting kicked into the air by the fallen snipers. He heard a loud crack from behind him, and a scream of pain from one of the snipers. He leapt forwards, flying over a fallen tree, knife flicking out, embedding itself in a fallen skull.

"Clear. Aleeza, Aria, when you're ready." Matt slid to a stop, turning and sighting with his own sniper, shots still zipping though the broken windows in the wall he was crouched behind.

"Going."

He heard the first shot, sweeping his sights in the direction of the sound. A fallen head apered in the crosshair, matt pulled the trigger, eather exploding out of the shattered facemask. He reaimed back at his teammates, who were about halfway across the field. Matt saw a blue dot build up behind them, as a swarm of dregs flooded out of the trees behind them. He breathed out.

-X-

Aria felt the first shot as it passed her head. She kept running hearing a screech of pain another round whistled past her helmet, "Matt are you showing off? 'Cause if you are, I'm going to punch you into next week."

Matt didn't respond, but the shots stopped whipping with in centimetres of her head. She heard Aleeza swear vigorously as she saw the shockwave from another round move the high coller on her robes.

They both ducked behind the same wall as Matt, Aria staring daggers at him, "What the hell? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Good shots." Aleeza nodded at him as he reloaded, "That last one was a touch close though."

Matt shrugged, helmeted head looking at Aria, "I was shooting the fallen behind you. and thanks Aleeza. I've been working on pinpoint placement on moving targets."

Aleeza laughed, "I can tell. Come on, I want to reach the ridge by nightfall."

-X-

Nova laughed, "Did you know that would anger our titan friend?"

"No." Matt replied innocently, "I don't think she quite trusts me to, well miss her. Remember that time in training."

Nova chuckled, "Yeah. Didn't you shoot her in the neck. Idiot."

Matt checked behind them again, then shrugged, "I wanted to see how accurate I was."

Aria cut into their conversation, "Yes, and I wanted to not get shot in the neck, but did you think about that?"

Matt smiled inside his helmet, "Yes, actually, I did, but I missed. I though you had gotten over this."

"She had, but I don't like it when you shoot AP rounds within an inch of my guardians face." Jenny snapped, "and neither does she."

-X-

Aleeza grunted, pulling herself up the last few metres of rock face. They had stopped using Light about 3 clicks back, and they were all starting to feel the strain of the last climb. Matt seemed to have fared best, his light armour meaning he had very little extra weight to haul up the vertical climbs they had encountered. The sun was dipping below the horizon, the sky blood red. She sat on the edge of the cliff, breathing deap.

"You good?" Arias' head appeared over the edge, not sounding exhausted.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked over at Matt, who was staring into the sunset, Nova perched on his shoulder, "Great view isn't it?"

"Yeah." Matt sounded down, "I had a friend who would've killed for this." He gestured to the sunset, "Beautiful." He crouched down, Nova projecting a map of the area onto the ground in front of him. He nodded, turning to look at the two of them, "We could go on, but it looks like much further would put us very firmly within reach of the Devils. Plus, I'm knackered, those last few k's were bastards."

Aria seemed impartial, choosing not to speak, so Aleeza took it as a cue to have her say, "I mean, I hoped to get a bit further, but I planned for this scout as if I had an experienced fire team, no offence meant,"

"Non taken. Not by me, anyway." Matt said, taking off his helmet.

"so I reckon we've done quite well. Yeah, we'll stop here." A glow surrounded her briefly, then a small tent appered next to her, "Thanks Lena. Aria, Matt, do either of you need something?"

Aria shook her head, "I'll just shut off some sensors, seal up the armour. Better than a tent."

"Matt?" Aleeza looked at the hunter, who was staring into the sunset again.

"Wha, oh, no thanks." He gestured to the growing dark sky, the first stars becoming just about visable, "Looks like it's not going to rain, not point in a tent." He lay back, having polled his cloak into a makeshift pillow, which he rested his now helmeted head on, "This'll be fine. Night."

-X-

REPORT_CW-16479

EYES_ONLY

/ITEM_1 (ONE)

UNIT IS ONE TITAN, ONE WARLOCK AND ONE HUNTER.

/ITEM_10 (TWO)

TITAN AND WARLOCK ARE FEMALE, HUNTER IS MALE.

/ITEM_11 (THREE)

HUNTER AND TITAN APPEAR TO BE NEWER GUARDIANS, UNCLEAR AS TO WHY THEY WERE SENT ON SUCH A MISSION.

/ITEM_100 (FOUR)

TITAN IS AN EXO, MODEL

…

…

/URGENT\\\

ITEM_1 (ONE)

EXO MODEL UNKNOWN. TITAN IS AN ODDITY, VARIABLES DO NOT COMPUTE.

\\\URGENT_ENDS/

ITEM_101 (FIVE)

UNIT APPEARS TO BE SCOUTING FALLEN TERRITORY, CITY STRIKE MAY BE IMMINENT.

\\\ERROR_MECH-FAILSAFE_ONE

NARROWBEAM FILES SENT.

UNIT_DESTORYED_CW-16479

/MESSAGE_ENDS

 **Hi. Sorry for the spotty uploads, I've had some exams recently, and but they finish today (20/6)  
** **Hopefully I'll be able to upload more consistently now.  
If you're got the time please leave a review, tell me what you think of my writing.  
I NEED FEEDBACK PLEASE!  
*ahem* Sorry about that. If you've got the time, could you also check out my other fic, based on Matteoarts Architectes series, which I recommend you go read if you haven't already.  
Anyway, thanks for reading.  
Until next time.**


	5. Hive

Matt handed the binoculars to Aleeza, detaching his sniper scope, "There's quite a few of them down there."

Aleeza whistled softly, "Yeah. I've not seen this large a group for years. Aria, you seeing this?"

"Yeah. I make over 3000 individual fallen, assuming I've counted them all. Maybe more." Aria had removed the extra faceplate on her helmet, revealing a darkened visor, "I'm seeing a few banners, Kings, Devils, Winter?"

Aleeza snapped her head around, "Are you sure? Winter aren't known for Earth operations. Matt, could you get any closer?"

He shrugged, "Maybe. I'd rather not risk it though, not with that many fallen around. We can get back to the tower quickly from here, but I think they have AA, so our ships would be pushed to fly though and pick us up without exploding if it all went to shit. I reckon we have enough with the rough count though." He shrugged again, "It's your call Aleeza, but if it goes to vote, I'll vote for leaving."

Aleeza nodded, "Well, neither Aria nor me could get close without being seen, so we go. Lena, we're ready to go."

She disappeared in a flash of blue light, a ship dropping low to the ground as it flew away.

"Nova, you ready?"

"Yeah, just about. OK, bringing you up." He felt a moment of weightlessness, saw Aria vanish, then felt the hard deck of his ship beneath his feet.

"Good. Got you." Nova sighed.

"What do you mean?" Matt looked at her, wondering what could have happened.

"Well, there was this one practice that I did where I missed you with the transmat and picked up 80 kilos of dirt." Nova sounded embarrassed.

Matt waved it off, settling into the cockpit, "At least you haven't got half of me, but missed the other half, that would have made a proper mess."

Nova materialised, shaking her shell theatrically, "Don't joke about that."

-X-

"Aleeza. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Missed you." Aleeza smiled.

"How was the recon? New guardians any good?" Carina smiled back, knowing how frustrating new guardians could be.

Aleeza shrugged, "Better than I was expecting. Then again, Matt and Aria always work well as a team."

"Oh, those two." Carina grinned, "Did Matt shoot anyone?"

"No, not anyone he didn't mean to. He is almost scary good with his sniper now."

"Sounds like a challenge." Carina grinned, "I'll talk to Shaxx."

Aleeza nodded, "I'll bet on Matt then. Any news about Wei's plan?"

"You mean outside of the fact that she wants to take the moon off of the hive, and the factions seem to be all about that right now? She's said that she wants to take every guardian who wants to go, but Saladin is sceptical."

"The old man is here?" Aleeza looked slightly shocked. "He's not scheduled for another 3 weeks."

"Surprise tournament. Recon I'll enter this time." Carina had drifted over to the vault terminal, and was now searching though its contents for something.

"I think I'll take this one off. Don't want to steel all of your fun." Aleeza glanced at Lena, "Matt and Aria have just finished a match. If you're quick, you should be able to convince Shaxx to let you into their next match. You got a second, they were doing rounds in doubles."

"Yeah. If she wants me." Akiva walked around the side of the vault terminal, slipping a shotgun onto his back, "Ready?" he asked Carina.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yup. See you in a bit, sister."

Aleeza smiled, "Just so you know, I'm betting against you."

Akiva shook his head, sharing a knowing smile with Carina, "She's the worst."

Carina laughed, "Yeah. That's why we both love her."

-X-

"Doubles Salvage." Shaxx voice boomed over the ruined buildings, "Secure the relic, and watch your back."

"Yeah Matt. Watch my back. Don't shoot it." Aria grumbled.

"Jeez, OK." Matt slammed into the wall, his knife already in his hand, "Ready?"

Aria nodded.

Matt jumped, knife white hot. It melted the wall, cooling quickly. He coiled up, swinging backwards once. He leapt out, sailing across the open space, bringing his sniper up.

A gentle red glint forced him to make a snap decision. He moved, seeing a titan come into his sights. He started falling, the titan swooping across his sight. He pulled the trigger, the recoil sending him spinning slightly. He felt the shot tug at the hood of his clock, "Aria, one in green cubby, sniping." He winced as several shots splattered against his shields, dropping them to half.

Aria sprinted forwards, aiming back down the line of the shots that hit Matt. She saw a Titans helmet, pulling the trigger she saw two bursts hit them, but before she could fire a third killing burst, they ducked.

Matt ducked behind a wall, watching his shield replenish, "Aria, you know where they are?"

"Yeah, same place." Aria yelled over the percussive sound of sniper shots.

Matt nodded, compressing his light into a grenade. He rolled out from behind the wall, grenade sailing towards the cubby. The two Titans scattered, one sprinting into a partially collapsed building, the other leaping out towards the silo.

The first bullet hit him in the chest, the impact knocking him backwards.

-X-

Carina grimaced, having missed Matt head with her first shot. She fired again, the bullet ripping though his chest as he slumped, dead. She snapped her aim towards the archway, watching the gap from which Akiva had been shot. A grenade arced out from the gap, lightning shattering her shields. She heard a noise behind her, turning to see a knife flying towards her, Matt already turning back behind the wall.

 _Damn he's good.._

The knife hit her in the head, hard.

...

...

Akiva looked over his shoulder as she materialised, blinking repeatedly to clear the static from the high energy released during the process, "He's fast, I'll give him that."

"What about Aria? Did she try anything?" Akiva crouched down next to a special ammo synthesis point, taking a handful of shotgun shells out of it.

"She got me with a grenade. They seem to be well co-ordinated, so I guess we'll have to step up our game." Carina laughed, "Well, I guess I might start trying."

Bullets splattered against the wall near Akiva' head, he flinched, diving behind cover, "I told you he was fast." Carina peaked out, snapping off a shot with her sniper. She ducked back fast, a trio of bullets smashing into the brick behind her.

-X-

Aria rounded the corner fast, her momentum slamming her though the wall, her knee connecting with Carina head, throwing the other titan into the wall behind her. She ducked, sliding to maintain her speed as Akiva pulled the trigger, pellets shredding Matt as he leapt in front of Akiva, knife just not leaving his hand. Aria heard the dull thump of a body hitting the floor, turning her shotgun on Akiva. He didn't have time to turn before the pellets hit him, knocking him back into the hole Aria had made barely 5 seconds ago. She crouched next to Nova, methodically reloading her shotgun, "Thanks." She touched Nova's shell, letting her light bolster the recovery process. Matt materialised, blue light dispersing in a cloud.

"Nova, remind me not to do that again." He groaned, drawing his handcannon.

Aria laughed, "Glad you took the hit for me. I've heard shotguns hurt."

Matt laughed, "Yeah, they do. I won't dive it next time."

They jogged towards the old building, a logo painted on its wall, faded with age.

An object screamed though the atmosphere, slamming into the ground, punching though several walls. It had a pointed shape, a long tail-like guidance system wall still smouldering, green smoke leaking out of a crack in the metal skin. It shuddered, the entire ship moving turning in the ground. Some of the bricks dropped slightly, before exploding outwards, a large metal plate shoving them away.

Matt looked uneasily at Aria, who readied a grenade, "Jenny, I think we should tell Akiva and Car..."

Creatures swarmed out of the ship, screeching in some unknown language. The piled out, small almost skeletal creatures that seems confused, before one of them spotted the guardian pair. It screeched, Matt shot it in the head. The creatures swarmed towards them, screeching incoherently.

They backed up, shooting into the mass of creatures swarming towards them. "Carina, Akiva. Uh, a hand." Aria said, calm as only an Exo could be in this situation.

"Yeah, we saw it come down. You OK?" Akiva said.

"Just about. These little skeletal things keep running out of it." Aria explained, "They aren't too hard to kill though."

Matt spun away from a blot of purple light, which smacked into the wall, spraying brick dust over his cloak.

-X-

He flicked a grenade into the opening, smiling under his helmet when bits of the creatures flew out, burning. A larger creature charged out, holding a sword that looked to be made out of some sort of stone. Fire flicked around its torso, before dying away. It saw Matt, roaring again it charged. He opened fire, stops pinging off of its armoured head and chest. It slammed its sword down with surprising speed, Matt diving out of the way. Aria moved towards it, shotgun ready, but was forced to duck when a barrage of the purple light flew towards her, missing by centimetres. Matt turned his attention back to the large sword wielding creature, which swung again. He drew a knife, diving out of the path of the sword once again. He rolled to his feet, knife held ready.

The creature slashed horizontally, aiming for his midsection. Matt met the sword with his knife, guiding the blade over his head with a quick arm movement. Hiss knife lit up, glowing with heat. He swung towards the creature, feeling it hit the creatures armour, with seemed to absorb the heat from the knife, which quickly returned to its normal metal hue. He grunted, ducking to avoid a fist intended for his head. He stayed close to it, hoping that in such close quarters, he could mitigate the effectiveness of the sword.

He felt a hard impact in his side, feeling and hearing ribs crack under the impact. He staggered backwards, yelling out in pain, left hand reflexively grabbing at his right side. He fell to one knee, planting a hand in the ground, barely holding himself upright.

-X-

Aleeza sprinted towards the railing at the edge of the tower, "Lena, you better be ready." She looked up, feeling familiar weight return to her shoulders as her pulse rifle returned to her back. She leapt off the tower, seeing her ship flair up hard below her. She landed on top of it, sprinting towards the open cockpit. "Nice flying."

"Thanks. You ready?"

"Just go." She rushed to pull the restraints over her shoulders, feeling acceleration push her back into her seat. The last thing she had seen before the feed was cut was a Hive Seeder smashing into the buildings near Matt and Aria. She saw the arena approach on her Nav system, they were closing fast, "Lena, go for a fast insert." She felt the acceleration ease, they were going as fast as Lena dared to fly this close to the ground. She checked their altitude, barely 200 metres above the ground. Aleeza stood, walking towards the centre of the ship, loading her pulse and fusion rifles, waving her hand though the air, summoning her solar light. She would not lose any more friends. She shuddered, the cries of one of her past teams as they fell to the Fallen, their ghosts lying shattered.

Lena's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "GO!"

She landed, shots snapping across the gap between the buildings. "Matt! Aria!" she shouted on an open channel.

"We're fine. Ish." Aria's slightly synthetic voice came across the comms. Aleeza breathed a sigh of relief, "You need a hand?"

"Yeah, actually, that would be great. They just keep swarming out." She heard shots though Aria's mic, along with the actual sound half a second later. She ran towards the markers on her HUD indicating Matt and Aria. "Oh shit." She heard Matt swear in the comms, "You alright?"

"Just about... ... there's some big bastard just come out of the ship, got a sword and all, don't think anyone told him we're moved on." Matt sounded slightly out of breath.

Aleeza grimaced, Knights were hard to kill, even for experienced guardians. She slid around a corner, a hole where a wall used to be showed her the Seeder. It had landed at an odd angle, punching though more than a few walls before stopping. She heard the roar of a Knight, the clash of stone on metal. Leaping forwards, using her light to buffer her fall, she saw the entrance to the Seeder. Her hand flew out, solar light compressed into a deadly sphere, it landed in the centre of the door, bursting out an aura of scalding light. Shrieks emanated from inside the Seeder as some of the Hive inside burnt.

Matt cried out in pain.

-X-

Akiva started running towards the impact site of the first Seeder. Neither he nor Carina saw the second one screaming though the sky, shearing though the metal structure near them. It had come in very shallow, none of the doors had opened. The topmost door blew off, a knight clawing its way out into the air.

Carina shot it, its screams silenced.

They both set off towards the first impact site. Akiva smiled when he heard Aleeza on an open channel, knowing that his sister would be able to handle a few hive.

Matt's cry of pain dropped a hole in his stomach...

-X-

Shaxx's terminal was a christmas tree of warning lights, most of them had however been moved to the corners, with the majority of the screen taken up by a conference call members of each faction, his Redjacks and the Vanguard.

"Dahlia, you lead this. You've fought Hive before."

Text scrolled across his screen, _Understood._ Dahlia was clearly doing something using her voice, probably shouting at the newer frames.

"Factions, I want ships patrolling the area around here ASAP." The faction leaders nodded, their displays winking off.

"Ikora, can you get med teams out there, Cayde and Zavala, send 6 each, if you can."

Cayde nodded, for once not cracking a bad joke, the gravity of the situation drew out a Cayde that very few knew existed. The Cayde that Shaxx was used to dealing with wouldn't stop laughing at his own terrible jokes, constantly cracking wise, even in what most would consider seriously bad situations. The Cayde he was dealing with now was mono-tone to his usual self. Hell even Zavala seemed cheery compared to Cayde, which was a first.

"I'll send Wei, she's looking to get all the extra time fighting any hive available for fighting." Zavala turned, talking into a separate channel.

Less than 10 seconds later, ATC detected a ship leaving City airspace, fast. Not one of the ones clocked to be sent to the arena. 30 seconds after that ship had left, a group of ships shot off on the same trajectory.

He closed his eyes, hoping he had been fast enough.

-X-

Wei felt the ship turn, gees pushing her into her seat, "Ready for hard landing."

She braced, the ship realigning its trajectory. She heard the cockpit cover slide backwards above her head, the seat shuddering as various mechanical systems engaged. The seat kicked her out of the ship, which spun up and away from the ground. She braced, ground rushing up to meet her. The impact gouged a trough out of the ground, water pluming behind her. She sprinted towards the latest impact site, out past the arena bounds. The hive had already started to swarm towards her, their landing having been smooth. She opened fire, hearing further impacts behind her as she ran forwards. Thrall fell, screaming incoherently as their bodies were chewed up by a barrage of bullets. A knight stomped out of the Seeder, Boomer held ready to fire. It fired one shot, the response from a sniper rifle destroying its head. The body fell backwards, crushing an Acolyte. Wei jumped, the shot from the boomer detonating on the ground below her. She felt the shockwave knock her forwards slightly, using it to gain more momentum. She closed the gap to the Seeder door in mess than 10 seconds, lighting arcing across her body. Running forward the last few metres to the door, she leapt forwards, concentrating the light around her fists.

Light shot across the ground inside the Seeder, reflecting off of the metal frame. Hive screamed, their bodies being destroyed by the shear amount of power inside the ship. Wei turned, walking out of the door, a small explosion rupturing the top of the Seeder, green fluid leaking out, evaporating in the air.

-X-

The knight flipped the sword in its hand, stepping towards Matt. He took a breath, feeling his broken ribs grate against each other. One last chance.

He pushed off his planted foot, hands coming together, a tripmine held in his right, knife in his left. He pushed the knife against the base of the tripmine as he shoved it in the knights face. The tripmine beeped once, arming itself due to the pressure from the knife. It detonated a second later, throwing him into a metal wall. He heard bones break, his whole body in agony. He hit the ground, passing out from the pain.

-X-

Aleeza rounded the corner, the knights body falling backwards, a narrow hole in the front of its head. It slowly toppled over, parts of its helmet falling out of the back of its head as it fell.

She looked away from the knight, her gaze falling on Matt, his armour charred, lying broken on the floor, Nova flitting around him, blue light repeatedly shooting out of her optic. A shot from an Acolyte forced Nova away from her Guardian, darting towards Aria, who was furiously returning fire, trying to give Nova some time to heal Matt.

She spun, her light bursting out. Hive shots turned towards her, she watched as they bounced off her armour. Throwing herself forwards, she smashed her palm into the first Acolyte she saw, its body dispersing into atoms. Flames flickered around her hands, her light lashing out. Acolytes and Thrall burned, Knights staggered away from her, unable to get close to such a violent source of light. A wizard screamed, bolts of darkness barely dimming the light. She threw a grenade at it, its shrieks as it died snapped her out of her blind attack. She felt her radiance die, light collapsing in on itself, no longer being sustained. She found the micro-reactor, in the centre, flicking another grenade into it. The metal melted, sloughing away onto the deck. The reactor detonated, the explosion causing her shields to drop almost completely. She looked towards where she had last seen Matt, Nova now focusing her light on one bone at a time, slowly repairing each one in turn. Aleeza jugged over to Aria, who was sitting against a pipe. "How is he?"

Aria sighed, gesturing towards the three warlocks forming a semicircle around him and Nova, "At the moment, not great." She slumped backwards, head resting against the pipe now, "Nova was struggling to heal him until the warlocks showed up, they seem to be helping."

Aleeza looked over at the group, one of them occasionally glowing gently, "Yeah, the Phoenix order are good medics, especially in the field. He'll be fine." She sat down nest to the Exo, who stared at the floor, "Trust me, I've seen them patch up much worse under fire."

-X-

"Shaxx, Dahlia. Arena secure. Hive incursion contained. Three guardian casualties. All stable."

Shaxx let out a breath that he hadn't realised he was holding. Hive were not something to take lightly, but having new guardians right in the thick of a surprise attack. "Who's the injured?"

"Redjack Unit00, Redjack Unit05, Guardian 16452."

Shaxx glanced down at his desk, damage reports flashing up on his screen. Unit00 was badly damaged, but the mind core was intact. Arcite was a good frame, one of the best, but Shaxx had needed a crucible handler for a long time. He would understand. Unit05 was KIA. Damnit, good frames were getting harder to find these days.

Guardian 16452. Matt. Shaxx swore vigorously, one of the new guardians in that fight. Wounds correlating to a tripmine, self inflicted plus impact damages. Nothing from hive weaponry.

He walking into the Vanguard meeting where the faction leaders were arrayed around the large table, they were bickering, the vanguard standing and listening.

Cayde looked up, "Shaxx. Anything?"

Shaxx nodded, "Yeah, I've lost a Redjack, and one will be retired, Guardian 16452 was injured, not much was in the report, apart from that he's stable. The Hive have been contained, and the last few are being rounded up as we speak." He paused, looking around the table, "I can now recommend an attack on Luna. Now, I need to talk to my Redjacks about this."

The factions looked surprised, Cayde nodded, as did Ikora. Zavala turned away, talking to his ghost. Shaxx turned, walking out smiling underneath his helmet.

-X-

Nova spun her shell, floating next to Aleeza and Aria.

"How are you?" Aria looked at Nova.

"I'm fine. So is Matt, before you ask." She turned away, "He should be back up tomorrow."

The doors opened, and the 2 guardians walked though it, the ghost drifting in behind them. The New Monarchy representative stood up, opening the conversation, "You know why we're all here, I presume."

Aleeza nodded, "Yeah. How a new guardian managed to hold off a knight for long enough to come up with a way to kill it. And to kill it. Nova."

Nova shot forwards, optic flickering into a transmission mode. Aria took over commentary, "Matt engaged a "knight", as you call them." The footage projecting from Nova's optic animated, showing Matt meet the knights first slash, deflecting it away from his head. He danced in towards the knight, knife glowing as it slashed towards the knights chest. The knife cooled as it hit the knights chest. The consensus watched the fight, staring at the footage.

Matt spun away, ducking under the first horizontal swing. He blocked the second swing, flicking the blade over his head with barely a movement. They watched him try the same trick heating the blade with his light, his knife flying towards the knights head this time. Again, the knife cooled on impact, the FWC rep shook her head at the repetition of the tactic. Aleeza smiled under her helmet, seeing Matt utilise various tactics she had used against him in the past. He closed the distance between him and the knight, moving fast enough for the footage that needed to be slowed down and repeated for the consensus. Nova spun the back of her shell, Aria and Aleeza recognising the movement from when Nova and Matt had shared a laugh over some in joke. She found the need for the consensus for review the footage of Matt moving at a very standard speed for a hunter funny on some level.

The footage played in slow motion, the flat edge of the knights sword smashing into Matt side. Aleeza flinched with the impact, watching Matt fall to one knee, his knife exchanging hands at a speed even the camera couldn't capture properly. His right hand hit the floor, keeping him upright. Aleeza watched the hand on the floor, knowing that Matt was for every crazy manoeuvre that would help him best his opponent. She saw his hand lift up, the grenade forming from his light. He shot forwards, Nova slowing the footage again. Matt fly forwards, his cloak flicking poetically in the slow motion. His hand came together, left hand holding his knife, braced against his thumb. He brought his knife up to his right hand, pushing both of his hands together. The grenade triggered, laser light flickering out, passing over the knight. It detonated in a flash of white light, the knight stopped instantly, parts of its helmet blasting into the wall.

Matt flew backwards, smashing into the wall. A damage report showed up on the display, Nova shuddering as it happened. It showed broken bones all major ones in his body had shattered either from the shockwave or the impact.

Nova cut the footage, flying out of the room, her shell shivering.

"That's how he did it. He took advantage of the available equipment, as hunters are told to do, and killed the knight, as rather large expense to his physical health." Aria turned away, Aleeza following her lead. Aria looked at Aleeza, speaking loud enough for the whole room to hear, "That was a waste of time."

Aleeza laughed in response, "Yeah, get used to it."

 **Thanks for reading.  
Really enjoyed writing this one.  
** **What did you think? What do you think of the whole story so far. Please review if you have the time, critique/advice is** **appreciated.  
** **Until next time.**


	6. Plan

"The last time that the Hive attacked us on earth, two young guardians did an incredible job of holding them off. One of them fought a knight and won. Matt, a hunter barely a year resurrected, fought a knight, and the only reason he's not standing up here right now is that tripmine grenades pack more bang than you think when it goes off in your hand." Wei didn't bother for large gatherings, but her planned assault on Luna had just been approved, and she felt like she needed to get the word out personally, "That's just the tip of the iceberg, however," She smiled, truly happy about something for the first time in too long, "Luna has been approved by the Consensus."

The crowd roared as Wei walked down off the impromptu podium. Eris walked up to her, "You sure about this?"

She nodded, "Yeah. You?"

Eris shrugged, "Sure enough. Toland pulled though, gave me some stuff on Hive hierarchy. Could be a problem, I'll tell you later."

Wei nodded, walking away from the crowd. She needed some time to finalise plans before the attack.

-X-

Matt swore, his wrist throbbing again. He snarled, partially in pain, partially in anger, squinting at the target. No hit, again. He looked at his hand, the scars along his wrist not quite healed over. He bent down, picking up his handcannon again.

Nova floated in front of his face, "You don't have to be at a hundred percent, there's no point pushing it, the bone is still weak. Don't break it again."

Matt placed the handcannon on the table to his right, the magazine next to it. He moved over to the next station, a rack of knives arrayed next to the shooting station. His arm blurred forwards, knives spinning though the air. They sunk into the furthest targets, all of them buried up to the hilt within centimetres of each other. He grunted, turning to the table with his armour on. It had been repaired, all of the blast and impact damage fixed.

He sat down at the table, a wrist brace lying next to his right arm. He picked it up, turning it over in his hand, head cocked to one side. He grabbed his right gauntlet, prizing off the armour covering the wrist area with his knife. He stretched the brace around the wrist area, forcing the armoured part over the brace, "Will this be safe for transmat?"

Nova scanned the modified armour, "Not at the moment, but I can make it work."

Matt leaned back in the chair, "Good, "he smiled thinly, "'cause I can't do any better with this." He held up his right hand.

It was the only part of his body that hadn't finished healing. When he had woken up, he had decided, much to Nova's relief, to never set off a Tripmine whilst still holding it. He understood now why they warned against it, the bones in his right hand had be thoughly pulverised in the explosion.

"Right. Should be good for Transmat now." Matt held out his arm, feeling the weight of the armour return.

"Not bad." He stood up, turning and aiming in one motion.

 **Crack.**

The target swung backwards, paint chipped on its forehead area.

He aimed to his left, the sound of the handcannnon firing reverberating around the large firing range. Matt paused for a second, the sound dying out. He smiled, shouldering his sniper rifle.

The low boom rang out, filling the hall with noise. The target jolted, tipping to one side, the bullet having ripped though one of the retaining chains. Matt smiled, quickly moving though the rest of the shooting range, his shot improving to the point where he was putting shot though the holes in the links of the chains.

He spun around, knife flying out of his hand. It sailed though the air, thudding into the target just outside the bullseye. He smiled, arm still outstretched, "Not bad, not bad."

Nova laughed, "Not bad? You haven't ever done better. I'd say that's pretty good."

His smile grew, "Yeah. But if I say it's good, then I won't want to do better next time." He turned, walking out of the shooting range, his weapons being transmatted away as he left. He replaced his helmet, just as Nova muttered, "Incoming."

Aria shot around the corner, virtually running into him, "How are you?" she smiled, clearly pleased to see him, "I just came from the infirmary, they said that you had walked out early." Her eyes lit up, literally, "The vanguard have announced that there is a plan to take back Luna. I didn't know what they meant, so I did some research. Apparently, the Moon was lost during the late Collapse, to "The Hive", which are the things that attacked us during that match against Carina and Akiva."

Matt smiled, "I'll try to not blow my hand up then."

Aria cocked her head to one side, "How is it?"

"Fine, mostly. My shots still good, but I had to put a brace inside the armour to help. When's the Luna mission slated for?"

"About a week. Wei wants all the guardians that want to go see her in 4 days to finalise the plan."

"You sound like you've made a decision." Nova chuckled, "Unfortunately, I think I can guess what Matt will say on the topic."

Aria laughed as Matt smiled again, "Yeah. I'll see you there."

-X-

Akiva sat back in the chair, "So you think we should attack that anomaly directly?"

Eris shrugged, "It appears to be where the readings are coming from. Why not? It's close to Mare Imbrium, which wouldn't be too hard to lock down."

Wei nodded, "That seems reasonable." She tapped a few buttons on the projector, a holographic map of the area came up, "So you are suggesting that we attack here." The anomaly showed up on the map as an empty circle, which turned red.

Eris nodded, "Yes. We could use Mare Imbrium as a staging point, it's massive and there is little cover, so locking it down would be easy."

Akiva stood up, walking over to the map, "It makes sense, but I don't see why we should lock down Imbrium, just to leave it. We've got about 3.8 million kilometres to work with, just set up near the anomaly and fight the hive on our ground. There's no point attacking them, from a fortified position, and if recent encounters are lending any conclusive evidence, they will attack us just because we are there."

Wei nodded again, "Again, reasonable." She smiled, "Damnit, I'm torn between the two plans. Can you two give me some time to think it over, talk to Serena about it."

Akiva nodded, "Yeah, that's fine. Just, ya know, tell us before we talk off."

They all laughed, "I'll try. No promises though."

Akiva turned, holding the door open for the two of them, "That's all us lowly grunts ask. Anyway, I need to go talk to my sister about something." He left the door close, "See you tomorrow then" before running off towards the tower plaza.

-X-

Matt sat back in his chair, holding the weapon up to the spotlight, "Not bad, not bad at all." Banshee-44 took the weapon out of his hand, examining it briefly, "I mean, it would work, but I wouldn't shoot it." He pulled the slide off the top, exposing the internals of the weapon, "Look." He pointed to the firing pin, "If that is held forwards, then the gun would jam, if it gets stuck halfway, it could set off the next round before it's chambered." He placed the gun on the table again, "I've heard that that hurts a bunch, holding an explosion."

Matt chuckled, "Yeah, I can attest to that."

Banshee smiled, "Not bad for today. I'll see you after Luna, I guess. Good luck up there."

"Thanks," Matt smiled, "I'll try to avoid tinkering with guns until I get back." He walked out, straight into Aleeza, who had the biggest grin on her face, "You made it!" she yelled, hugging him.

"Uh, what?" Matt staggered backwards, bemused by her behaviour. Akiva stepped around the corner, Carina laughing uncontrollably behind him, "One year. Both you and Aria." Aleeza laughed at Matt shocked face, the three of them watching as his expression morphed from one of surprise to understanding, a smile growing on his face, "Shit, really?" He laughed, looking over at Nova, who was hovering just above his head, "Is it?"

Nova dipped her shell in a ghost version of a nod, "Yeah, it is." She turned her optic towards Carina, who had calmed down, "I presume you have something similar planned for Aria?"

Carina nodded, stifling more laughter, "Yeah, come on." She beckoned them, running off towards the hanger.

-X-

They bundled into the training room, Amanda turning, her face turning from anger to understanding as she saw who had burst in.

"She'll be out in about 10 minutes." They nodded their acknowledgement, parting to let Amanda walk out. She paused next to Akiva, "You know that data you sent me?"

Akiva nodded, "Yeah, what of it?"

Amanda grinned, "You don't have any more, do you? I had a look, but it's incomplete. I got some co-ordinates out of it, but nothing else, it's all gargon."

Lex popped into existence, "Sorry, we gave you all we got." Akiva smiled apologetically.

"Ah well," Amanda shrugged, "Just go find it after you get back from Luna."

"Will do. Sorry we couldn't get more out of the system." Akiva sighed, "We'll dig deeper next time."

Amanda laughed, "Just don't fall down any rabbit holes, OK." She addressed the group as a whole, "Good luck up there."

"Thanks." They said in rough chorus.

They all turned to the pod, which unsealed with a hiss of pneumatics. Aria stepped out, Jenny vanishing as she left the pod.

"You made it!" Carina leapt forwards, crashing into her fellow Titan.

"Wha.. What?" Aria stuttered slightly, staggering backwards under the impact from the other Exo.

Matt decided to step forwards, Aleeza and Akiva having lost it laughing at Aria's lack of comprehension, "We've both made our first year as Guardians." He grinned, watching her eyes light up slowly.

"Shit, really?" She still sounded slightly shocked.

Matt laughed, "Yeah, really."

"What's so funny?" Jenny asked, peering into Aleeza face.

"Oh," Aleeza managed to splutter through her laughter, "Nothing really."

"Matt? You have any ideas?" Jenny looked over to him, the hunter still smiling.

"Yeah. I had exactly the same reaction." He turned to the Wahl twins, "So, I'm guessing you have something planned."

Akiva nodded, containing his laughter, "You know that bar we met you in?"

Matt nodded, "Not again, really? Even after last time?"

Aleeza nodded, "Especially after last time. Anyway, humanist groups have been on the decline, so we'll be fine."

Matt nodded, looking uncertain about that logic, "Right. Nova, didn't we have a plan for discreet armour?"

Nova materialised, "Yep. Oh, it's a good one." She expanded her shell, Matt armour glowing blue, before being replaced with a basic chestplate over his undersuit. A shirt and jeans appeared over the armour, within seconds he had gone from Guardian of the last city to another civilian on a tower visit. He held out his arms, turning in a slow circle.

Aleeza clapped, "OK, wow." She sounded genuinely impressed, "That, that was impressive." She sidled up to Nova, stage whispering, "How long did it take to get that right?"

Nova twirled her shell, "Not long. About 3 days, I spent most of it working on reducing the transmit energy so that I didn't burn anything in transmat."

Matt nodded, "When you can't move properly because everything hurts from hitting a wall, you've got plenty of time to stare at power output screens." He leaned in close to Aleeza's ear, stage whispering, "Although it's boring as hell."

Nova jerked backwards, mocking horror, "What? You said it was fine."

Matt leaned against a wall, "Maybe I did, but I was stuck there, so at the time it was probably great fun." He said, laughing. He punched the button for the ground floor of the tower, "I'll see you all down there."

-X-

Matt leaned back, laughing at some bad joke Akiva had just told. He scanned the other patrons, his eyes flickering across the many booths and tables. Aria looked over at him, seeing his eyes flick constantly from left to right, "You know you don't have to be suspicious of everyone, right?" she smiled, "We didn't come out for you to be on edge the whole time."

Matt sighed, "I know." He laughed, "You know, I don't even notice when I do it, it just sort of happens. Hunter training, I guess."

Aria smiled, "Yeah, I guess." She paused, glancing over at Aleeza, who was telling a story about how she _found_ her brother on Mars. Matt interjected before she could, "Sorry, I zoned out for a bit then, what?"

Aleeza looked at both of them, "You haven't heard, have you?" She laughed, "Dumb question, you won't have, nobody will have told you. Me and Akiva are brother and sister, despite our obvious differences. We worked out that we died within months of each other, too. He died protecting civilians fleeing the Collapse, I died in a crash." She smiled gently, "It's not the happiest starts to a story, but trust me when I say I've heard worse." She paused again, taking a drink.

"So Akiva here lost a previous fireteam, I won't tell that story, ask him if you want to. Because of this, he often visited Mars, many time for years on end. I bumped into him there. He was being attacked by several centurions, and I saw this and decided to help."

She pulled a small holoprojector out of her pocket, placing it on the table. A 2D image appeared on the wall, it showed a red desert, sand billowing up in the wake from a Sparrow. The guardian was instantly recognisable as Aleeza, her distinctive armour hunched over the Sparrow. A spattering of fire kicked up sand in front of her, as a transcript flickered into view under the video.

G-09742[Akiva Wahl]: Any nearby Guardians, I could do with a hand.

G-09827[Aleeza Wahl]: I see you, on my way.

G-09742: Oh thank the traveller. I'm pinned down by 5 Centurions, Lex, send co-ordinates."

A data stream flickered on in the bottom right of the video feed, co-ordinates and a route to get to them half a second later.

Gh-09827[Lena]: Got him. Just north of our current position.

G-09827: 09742, you got a name? Numbers are a bit hard to yell in combat.

G-09742: Akiva. You?

G-09827: Aleeza.

She soared over the ridge, kicking off her sparrow, a nova bomb already forming in her hand. The ball of Void energy grew, swelling to the size of a football, then an old car tyre. She twisted in the air, hurling the orb of rolling energy towards the towering creatures. Two of them turned their attention to her, miniguns spewing hot lead towards her. She landed hard, dropping to the ground to hide herself behind a small hill. The Nova impacted, purple light bathing everything in a deep violet glow. One of the Centurions collapsed, a gap where its torso should have been.

A second later, a blue bolt split the sky as Akiva leapt upwards, before falling down onto two centurions still focused on Aleeza.

G-09742: Got the... Agh

G-09827: Akiva!

She stood up, void energy pouring from her hands. The centurions, aimed, bullets chewing up the ground where she was standing. She vanished, reappearing next to one of the centurions. She grabbed its arm, pulling herself up onto its back, her hands digging into its armour. Her hand came away from its arm, Void energy eating away at the place where her hand had been. The centurion reeled backwards, as Aleeza poured energy into its head. A spurt of oil shot out of the top of its helmet, igniting in the stream of energy. She leapt off its shoulders, the body falling backwards as she vanished, landing next to Akiva. The final centurion roared, its minigun roaring with it as bullets peppered the ground around Aleeza and Akiva tracing a line towards them.

Aleeza held up a hand, a stream of void energy folding back on itself, fanning out into a rough hemisphere. The bullets slashed though it, dissolving into nothingness as they did. Akiva staggered to his feet, void energy building up across his chest. The energy rippled outwards, coalescing into a perfect hemisphere around both of them. He fell onto one knee.

Aleeza turned, crouching down next to him.

G-09827: You OK?

G-09742: Just about, that still takes it out of me a bit. I just need a minute.

He looked up at the warlock, watching her nod, dropping her pulse rifle. A ball of Void energy formed in her hand, which grew rapidly to the size of a large beach ball. She slammed her hand down onto it, compressing it to the size of a ping-pong ball.

G-09827: Got any requests for where I shove this?

G-09742: In its face.

G-09827: _laughter_ Got it. One Nova, coming up.

She vanished, reappearing in the air above the creature. It stopped firing, swinging its minigun upwards. She opened her hand, the Nova falling onto the creatures upturned face. It detonated, the energy washing over Aleeza, who landed next to the body as it was burned away.

The feed cut out.

"So after that, we returned to the tower, I had done what I needed to do on Mars and Akiva wanted to talk."

Matt fazed out, his attention grabbed instantly by a large group of people walking into the bar. He lent forwards, eyes snapping between the individuals in the group. He tapped Carina on the foot, "Do you recognise any of them?"

She turned around briefly, laughing slightly. "One second." She paused, her eyes dimming slightly, "Yeah. One match. One of the group you beat up last time you were here."

Matt leaned forwards, resting his chin on his thumbs, his fingers laced together.

"You're watching them, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Don't trust 'em."

Aria laughed, Aleeza had finished telling her story.

Matt continued to watch them, as they approached the bar.

"Drinks. Uh, 20 beers." One of them yelled.

The barkeep walked out from behind the bar, "Get out."

"Whaddya mean, get out? We're customers, we wanna drink or 2."

The barkeep stood his ground, "Last time you were here, I had to put up with FOTC crawling over this place for weeks. Also, we don't serve the openly racist here." He lowered his tone, pulling a handgun out of his pocket, "Last chance."

The leader backed away, "Hey, hey, we don't want no trouble. We'll go, won't we lads."

The group jeered, shouting about how bad the bar was as they walked out.

The barkeep turned to the rest of the patrons, "Sorry about that folks. Don't want to have anyone disturb your evenings." He smiled, easing behind the bar.

Matt leaned back, relaxing his shoulders.

-X-

They landed, the Hive set upon them as soon as their boots touched the ground. He drew his handcannon, firing into the mass of thrall that assaulted them all. The creatures screamed as they fell, more of them scrambling over the growing piles of corpses.

The acolytes poured out of the Seeders, bolts of purple light whizzing past his shoulder. Akiva grunted, a Ward bursting forwards. Shots slammed into it, purple energy dissipating into the shield.

A electric blue bolt slammed into the shield, the hard light surface pulsating this the energy. 5 knights swarmed out, Thrall and Acolytes swept out of the way or just crushed underfoot. They roared, more knights stomping out of the Seeders.

They fired, the shots all landing on the same point on the Ward. It glowed, changing colour from purple to white, before shattering, blasting all of them backwards.

Matt sat up, groaning as the Knights charged. He stood, a Golden Gun forming in his hand.

Three bolts of yellow-gold light smashed into three of the knights, their armour melting then boiling as the energy pierced their plating. They swelled, bursting apart in flowers of destruction.

Matt spun to his left, knife drawn. One of the knights lunged, Matt flicked the blade away in one sharp motion, before jumping forwards, his arm burying his knife in the knights skull. It screeched as he heated the blade, a jet of plasma ejecting out the back of its skull.

The second knight slashed downwards, bullets slamming into its armour. The low boom of a sniper caused it to slow, a hole bored though its head. Matt jumped backwards, snatching the sword out of the air as it fell...

...

...

 _ **THANK YOU. I'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE.**_

 _What?_ This new voice growled, rocks rubbing past each other.

 _ **MY TURN, LITTLE LIGHT.**_

He screamed, or at least he tried to. He thought about it, but his mouth didn't move, he vocal folds didn't respond to the signals from his brain. The creature laughed.

 _ **LIKE I SAID, MY TURN**_ the voice dripped with malice, snarling as it spoke.

"Matt?" Aria walked up to him, "You alright?"

 **NOT QUITE. I APERE TO HAVE A GUARDIAN IN MY HEAD.**

The sword whipped around, Aria had no time to react.

 _NO!_

Her torso whipped sideways, the force of the swipe cutting straight though her. Jenny materialised, shell glowing.

 _ **FOOLISH SPARK.**_

 _NO NO NO NO!_

The thing lashed out with Matt arm, grabbing Jenny in a vice grip. The creature laughed, Matt heard it with his ears. It tightened his grip, crushing the shell. He felt the shards piece his hand, light arcing down his arm. He reached out, grabbing it before the creature could.

 _Nova, get out, NOW!_

 _No, I'm not leaving you._ Nova's voice in his head was full of fear.

 _GO!_ He roared, lashing out against the presence in his head. The creature didn't respond, turning towards Carina and Aleeza, who opened fire.

He blinked, metaphorically, he was behind them, looking though his eyes. The creature picked up Carina, arc energy surging though her as she swung repeated punches into Matt's ribs. He flet each of them break, screaming in pain.

 _ **THESE BODIES ARE FRAGILE. YOU ARE WEAK. HOW COULD YOU FIGHT ME. I AM A GOD**_

He kicked out, Aleeza flew backwards, denting the water tower. The creature grabbed Carina head, twisting and wrenching the helmet back and forth, before ripping it off.

Carina yelled, arc energy rippling though her. The creature didn't acknowledge her, stabbing down though her neck. Her expression morphed from anger to pain, the light in her eyes dying.

She managed one word, "Don't"

The creature ripped the sword out, her body flying backwards. Akiva's shot slammed into his neck, piercing the weakened shields. Matt felt the bullet slash though his throat, blood pouring into his lungs. The creature laughed, sealing the wound with a thought.

 _ **CAN'T HAVE YOU DYING YET.**_ It laughed, _**I HAVN'T FINISHED YET.**_

It spun around, firing a rocket, then 3 sniper rounds into Akivas head. He fell over backwards, Lex apering over his body.

The creature didn't even aim, it just fired another rocket, obliterating the ghost.

Aleeza staggered to her feet, screaming in anger. Her whole body glowed with void light, until it seemed she was made of the void. The energy roiled around her, barely constrained by her rage. It compressed, she lunged forwards, energy pouring out of her palms.

Matt felt the creature grimace at the energy being directed at it. It turned away, letting Matt back soak up the energy. He felt it eating away as his flesh, his body being consumed by the void.

The creature spun, sword thrown with such speed that Matt saw it turn more red as it flew. It hit her with such force that she flew a good 500 metres, landing in a bloody heap on the ground. The creature held out Matts hand, letting the sword fly back to them. It grabbed it out of the air, slamming it into the ground.

 _ **THAT WAS FUN. GOODBYE, LITTLE LIGHT.**_

It raised Matt knife, plunging it into his heart.

 **Hi.  
Sorry I missed the schedule, I had some issues with my laptop that completely drained my will to write. It blue screened and didn't back up 3/4 of what I'd written. I took a few days off, to cry and murder folks on the crucible. Came back and finished.  
PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK SO FAR.  
Quite the ending wasn't it.  
Well, I guess it's time to start properly, this is but a taster of whats to come.  
I'll try to hid the schedule for the next chapter guys and gals.  
Whilst your waiting, if you haven't read Tormented and Redacted, GO READ THEM. They're much better than what I write, and you have about 80 chapters that exist.**

 **LOOK KEY MEGA HYPE FOR D2 BETA, ANYONE READING THIS ON XBOX?  
Sorry, got a bit carried away there.  
** **Until next time.** **  
**


	7. Luna

He shot forwards, heart racing, breathing fast.

"Matt? Are you alright?"

He reached forwards, hugging his knee, his breathing rate slowing. He slumped backwards, head hitting the pillow. His hands shook.

"Yeah." He croaked, "Just about." He beckoned Nova over, holding a hand out for her to settle in.

"No you're not." She said, "Why are you shaking?"

He felt his heart rate return to normal, "Nothing important." Matt tapped his terminal on, quickly searching for Akiva, Aleeza, Carina, Aria and their ghosts. The pad showed them all alive and well.

He breathed a massive sigh of relief, glancing at the time as he put the terminal down.

5:55

He shrugged, swinging himself out of bed. His armour materialised around him, the systems in the room detecting he had stood up.

"Where are we going?" Nova asked, curiosity expressed though one raised shell part.

"A run. Around the wall." Matt replied, opening the door to his room, "I need some air."

He picked up his helmet, staring at it for a second, before putting it down, pulling the hood of his cloak up to cover his head. He stepped out into the corridor, flicking the door closed with his heel as he left.

 _Transmission 0-Alpha97-Siera79_

 _Item: Guardian [Des:Hunter1]_

 _Item: Hunter1 leaves Tower at 6:01 local time, target destination unknown._

 _Item: Hunter1 has broken from schedule. Usually leaves the tower at 6:30 or later._

 _Filepath closed. Connection terminated._

 _/Monarch_ \\\_

-X-

"You ready?" Jenny tilted her shell sideways.

Aria nodded, "Just about." She grabbed her boot, tugging at it hard to test the seal, "Yup, good to go." She smiled, grabbing her helmet from by the door, "Where are we meeting Matt?"

Nova's voice came though her comms, "Just meet us in the hanger, Wei's briefed us Hunters already."

"OK. We'll see you in 5."

-X-

"Not bad hunter. Not bad." The titan spun away, backing up slightly, "How new did you say you were?"

Matt shrugged, "About a year. Just over, actually, uh, like a year and a week..."

The titan lunged forwards, aiming to tackle him to the ground. Matt jumped straight up, using the titans back as a springboard to flip over and rotate to face him. The titan stumbled forwards, the kick almost knocking him over. He whipped his head around, snarling.

The titan charged forwards, arc energy building , forming a cone of air around him as he ran. Matt tensed, waiting until the last possible moment to dive to the side. He heard a crack as the titan turned his shoulder to hit him, missing by centimetres. Matt rolled to his feet, as the titan, who had turned around with lightning agility, kicked him hard.

"Slippery bastard." He growled, jumping forwards, "My turn." He landed, punching down hard into Matt stomach. He felt arc light discharge, his whole body spasming as the energy arc though him. The second punch whipped down, Matt arm barely deflecting it over his head. He heard a shout, barely having time to react before someone cannoned into the Titan, knocking him a good 20 metres across the hanger.

He sat up, watching as the second titan dropped into a low fighting stance as the first one climbed to his feet, "Watch it, Rezyl. I need every Guardian I've got." The second titan growled. The first one, Rezyl, stood his ground for a second, before nodding curtly and walking away, his faction mark vanishing as he left.

The second titan turned to him as he pushed himself up to standing, "Sorry about him, he's been a bit odd since he got back from the moon last time."

Matt smiled under his helmet, "Ah, its fine. Thanks though."

"No problem. You fought well, I've not seen many hunters jump over the shoulder charge." The titan punching him gently on the shoulder, "I'll look out for you in the Crucible when we get back."

Matt smiled underneath his helmet, "I'll keep my distance then." He stepped backwards, nodding at the titan once more.

"Matt!" Aria shouted across the hanger, waving at him, "Come on, I wanna race you around the city before we go."

Matt laughed, "Sure. How much head start should I give you?"

He jumped, landing on the cockpit cover. Kicking it forwards, he slipped into the pilots seat.

"Well, I guess, GO!" Aria shouted into the mic, shooting out of the hanger, pitching over almost immediately.

Matt shook his head, grinning under his helmet, "She never changes." The ship shuddered, engines igniting. They shot forwards, flipping and diving in one smooth motion.

He plummeted towards the ground, pulling up with barely 100 metres to go. The ship shuddered, the roar of the engines ramping up as he gave chase to Aria.

"Nova, can you split the engine output? I'm gonna need to take some shortcuts."

Nova laughed, "Nothing too dangerous, I hope. Yeah, it's done." A pair of controls pulsed on the holographic display, "Left and right, respectively."

"Cheers." Matt pushed both of the controls to full, the acceleration pushing him into the pilots seat.

The two jets spiralled and jinked along the wall, Aria flying about 100 metres above the wall, about a kilometre ahead of him. She slowed down, airbrakes deploying as she screamed around one of the tighter corners.

Matt grinned, cutting power to the left engine completely. He felt the right engine shove the jet, causing it to start spinning to the left, rotating as it did.

He saw the corner, he was flying at about 45 degrees to his current path, waiting, 50 degrees, NOW.

Nova whooped as they screamed around the corner, left engine reigniting with a growl. The ship was straight to the track, having retained most of the speed they had beforehand. He saw Aria up ahead, spiralling to avoid an artillery position. He pulled up, rotating though 360 degrees to avoid the same obstacle.

The final corner in the test course was a long sweeping right. Matt pushed the craft, the engines scream rising into ultrasonic.

They banked, both craft tipping to the same angle. Matt slipped into the slipstream, the ship accelerating in the area of decreased resistance, he flipped out, spiralling up and over Aria, who swore vigorously as she saw the shadow cover her cockpit.

He slowed in the increased resistance after moving out of slipstream, the Matt flying upside barely a metre above Aria.

The shot though the finishing gate, Aria a thousandth of a second ahead. Matt slowed down, letting Aria pull ahead, following her though a tight turn and rotation. She had slowed down to a more sensible speed, at least according to whoever was working ATC. He pulled up alongside her, pulling off his helmet to grin across at her.

-X-

Aleeza sighed, "Where are they?"

Lena shrugged, "Nova said they got board, so they probably had a race. Knowing them, they'll have managed to annoy ATC quite a bit."

Two ships rose from below the lip of the tower hanger, both of them growing larger at an almost alarming rate. One of them fell backwards, the other flipped as a burst of orange was seen at the nose. The flipped craft cut engines, the nozzles glowing red hot. The craft wobbled, light fluttering in the engine nozzles as it approached.

She heard the roar of the engines, loud even though her helmet. Flames shot out, licking around the ship as it slowed down. Landing jets ignited, catching the craft as its speed dropped. The craft slowed fast, engines disengaging as it entered the hanger, the exhaust licking the floor. It barely settled down on its now deployed landing legs before Matt had leapt out onto the body of the craft, running along it to jump off the back.

His helmet was off, his short hair being ruffled by the idle engines.

-X-

 _/Transmision_Starts_

 _Guardian assault on {entity}Luna confirmed, estimated numbers over 2,000 [two thousand][ ]_

 _Units appear to be planning a strike on {location}Anomally1-2[ ], intent (presumably) wiping out Hive in region._

 _Strike point is {location}Mare Imbrium [{ }32.8oN15.6oW][ ]_

 _Strike verified though Guardian channels [ ]_

 _Transmission_Ends/_

 _..._

 _..._

 _.Burst_

 _..._

 _Unpacking files._

 _Instructions received, run.11.23.13_

 _Antenna_ShutDown-Init/_

 _-X-_

They rose on a pillar of fire, the unified mass of craft looking more like one massive whole rather than a collection of 2000 odd individual ships.

Cayde looked up after them, his optics zooming in on them as they left. He saw the leaders, all of them hunters, pull away, their craft seeming to warp and flex as they accelerated to near light speed to the short trip to Luna.

"Godspeed Guardians. And Travellers light." He turned away, his voice cracking slightly, mostly in pride, but partially in fear. He turned to Ikora, who had similarly turned away from the ships.

"Do you wonder if we are sending them to their deaths at the hands of a race that worships the Dark?" She asked. He looked at her hands, void energy coiling around them.

"Yes," he replied, his voice slightly hoarse, "Every time I see a ship fly out." He sighed, "There's not a day goes by when I don't see some new Guardian and Ghost arrive, that I don't think "how long till I read a report of their death? How long till I stand by one of my hunters as they breathe their last, their ghost lying shattered next to them? How long before the influx of Guardians slows, stops, and we have to accept there will be no more new. Just the old, growing wary of their eternal fight. How long before I see," He stalled, refreshing his core processes, "How long before I see you, or Zavala lying with a dead ghost in your hand." He stopped, a great wash of static signifying a long shuddering breath, "How long must I stand at that damn table, watching, waiting for reports, reading reports. Giving orders based on the reports. How much more can this old Exo take?"

Ikora smiled thinly, "More than the rest of us, I'd bet. They aren't being sent to their deaths Cayde, and even if they are, I'm sure they will give a good show before the end." She punched him lightly on the shoulder, "I would expect nothing less from your Hunters, or my Warlocks."

Cayde smiled, forcing some joy into his voice, "Yeah, I guess."

A tower tech sprinted up the stairs, "Sirs." He gulped down air, "It's, uh, the guy says his name is Pahanin."

Cayde and Ikora both looked at each other, disbelief written all over their faces. Cayde took the offered datapad, his ghost routing it though into his earpiece, as well as Ikoras'.

"Guardian."

"Cayde. Oh thank the traveller." A male voice could be heard though the connection, "Oh my god, you're alive." The sound of someone slumping down against something, followed by crying, then laughter, "I made it. Right place. Right where, right whe..." he trailed off, "I need help. Please tell me there is a Guardian who can come and pick me up. My ship is lost. Please, send anyone." He voice quivered, emotion tearing though, "Just get me off this machine. Please."

Cayde nodded, contacting Holiday, "Yes, I said Pahanin. No I don't think he's dead. Yes, he sounds real and alive." He switched back to Pahanin's channel, "I'm sending Holiday over, she'll be there in half an hour, 45 minutes max. Stay safe."

-X-

"Main, this is scout one. We've landed." The Exo's voice rumbled, "Locking down the LZ."

"Yep, on our way." The group received from Wei, her ship diving towards the surface.

"LZ secure." The Exo reported, "Scout 2-10, sweep and clear."

Wei pulled up, ship shaking as she decelerated. Matt flipped over, punching the engines to maximum plummeting towards the Luna surface. All around him, guardian ships dove in similar fashion, pulling up at the last second to deposit their guardian via transmit before flying up again.

He landed, turning his head to see Earth.

Earth. The planet. Here he was, on the Moon, looking up at the Earth as it rose above the horizon. To say he was overly happy was an understatement.

The shriek of Hive snapped him out of his thoughts.

"You ready?" Aria nodded at him, her rifle raised in the direction of the sound.

"Yeah, you?" He answered, the screeches getting louder.

The first row or guardians dropped to one knee, the row behind them aiming between their shoulders from the same position. Matt and Aria stood in the row behind, all of whom were aim over the heads of the first and second rows.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, "You ready? Nervous?" Akiva asked.

"Little bit. I think it's just..." he stopped, a mass of creatures swarming over the low hill. Thousands of thrall charged the guardian line, screaming for blood and light.

"Weapons free." Wei barked down the comm, two thousand guardians answering.

The rapid report of two thousand weapons drowned out all other noise. It was sustained for a good minute before the thrall started to retreat, scrambling over each other to flee the guardian line.

An unspoken order caused the front line to break, charging up the hill to slaughter the thrall as they ran. The first line reached the summit, thrall lying dead in heaps. Purple bolts threw up puffs of moon dust, the guardians ducking left and right as they descended the other side of the hill, slaughtering the Acolytes as they descended.

Matt dashed forwards, knife flashing in the Earthshine as his gun ran dry, an acolyte within metres of him. He stabbed downwards, knife embedding itself in the Acolytes skull. He ripped it out, the Acolyte turning to dust as he did.

-X-

 _The light burns its way through your thrall, your acolytes._

A giant hand waves the creature away, _Why would I care?_

A pause.

 _Tell me if they get through the knights._

-X-

Matt grinned, Aria charging next to him as the strike team slaughtered their way through the knights. He danced left, the sword missing by mere centimetres, before shooting the creature twice in the head.

Behind him, Aleeza opened fire, bullets sparking off another knights armour. Whilst it was distracted, Aria closed the distance, ducking under its rushed swing, her fist crackling with energy as she slammed it into the knights chin.

Its head snapped backwards, energy dissolving its body as it fell dead. Aria spun flashing a quick wave at Aleeza before unloading into the chest of a knight with strange orange markings.

She saw it flinch, its scream of pain piercingly loud. It drew a sword, the edge glowing a sickly green. The creature roared, planting the sword in the ground.

An ethereal green glow surrounded it, Aria charged forwards, lightning rippling around her as she ran. The green light exploded outwards, the shockwave knocking Aria off her feet.

-X-

 _Your knights are dead._

The creature stood, a sword the size of the knight held in one giant fist.

 _They will pay in blood and light._

The creature paused, a deep booming in the knights head signifying his liege was laughing.

 _Take me to them._

It paused again, hatred dripping from its voice, _They will taste my blade_

 _-X-_

"Woah. What the hell?" A guardian came though the command line clearly, human by the sound of his voice, "Did anyone else just see that green flash?"

Matt flinched as a colossal roar assaulted his ears, seeming coming from both sides of his current position. Guardians stopped as knights turned and ran, their brethren armed with long range weapons covering their retreat.

"I repeat, one knight with orange markings just appeared.

 _LIGHT_

The voice boomed, low and menacing, rocks scraping against one another.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Fall back, fall ba..." static slammed though the channel before it was cut off.

Wei yelled down the command line, "Everyone, transmat out, now."

Another guardian, one who had been helping Wei a lot cut in, "Transmat is blocked. Fall back to the LZ, have your ghost fly down and pick you up. GO!"

The guardians turned, sprinting back towards the edge of Mare Imbrium.

Matt knocked the blade of a knight away, driving his knife into its skull as the creature stood to its full height. It towered above the knights, green chitinous armour glowing with the same ethereal light.

It roared, raising its sword in the direction of the retreating guardians. The knights charged, sprinting into the retreating line of guardians.

Crota sprinted forwards, sword slapping all types of ordnance away. He grabbed a warlock, smashing them into the ground. Their armour, not designed for anywhere near that amount of force ruptured, Crotas hand sinking into his chest. The ghost materialised, absorbing the light from his fallen guardian.

They all heard the god laugh, many of them turning to see the ghost melt away into nothing, burnt away by green fire.

The knights hit them, the line crumpling.

Guardians went down, dying to Knights or Crota has he stomped though their numbers. His sword flashed out, the one swing scything though 10 titans as they turned to hold off the knights.

Fire, green fire burned along the ground, ghosts and guardians alike melting into nothing as he marched forwards. Matt was still running, Akiva having fallen behind to grab something, a ghost maybe.

He looked over his shoulder, the titan sprinting away from the monstrosity. He saw him stagger, as if punched as Lex appeared for a second, before vanishing, seeming to fall down towards the ground.

Weight build up on his shoulders, pushing him down, making each step harder. He ran on, forcing his light outwards to push against whatever was trying to crush him. He saw all the other guardians doing the same, glowing gold, suddenly being surrounded by void energy or lightning arcing from their body.

"Matt. I'm landed. Hurry." Nova practically begged. He didn't respond, not wanting to waste breath.

They crested the final rise, a field of dead thrall and guardian ships came into view.

He jumped forwards, throwing himself over the rise, landing and sliding down the other side.

Titans leapt forwards, their light carrying them towards ships floating in the sky. Some of them boarded before the ship rose, others shooting upwards the moment the guardian landed on the hull.

A wave of green fire chased them, lighting up the sky and ground in its sickly tint. He heard the cries of guardians as they were consumed by the fire. He blocked it out, focusing on his ship, which had landed near the back of the group.

-X-

Crota laughed. This was the best of the light?

He saw a ghost, lying half dead on the barren surface. He picked it up, staring into its single eye as he started to burn it, the yellow and white paint sloughing off it as the metal turned to putty in his hand.

He paused, laughing at the irony of the idea in his head. He quickly smacked the ghost against his blade, watching the core crack, ensuring it was still alive.

The metal shell was still malleable. He squashed it down, forming a rough dagger, watching the core rotate weakly. It stopped, focusing on one guardian.

It's guardian.

He flicked his hand forwards, sending the ghost cannoning forwards almost too fast to track.

-X-

No, no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. The impact on the armour caused the ghost to cycle all power as its core was shook, causing further damage to its components.

-X-

Matt lunged towards the cockpit, his hand brushing over the engine ignition as he jumped into the pilots seat. He saw Aria take off, rotating almost 90 degrees to shoot away. Akiva took off next, wobbling slightly as he did. Aleeza and Carina took off within milliseconds of each other, shooting off towards earth.

Matt engaged the engines, rotating and pulling up as he did so, the ship falling briefly as the main engines spun up. Impacts shook the ship as he rose, lining himself up with the horizon.

Something punched though the centre of the ship, throwing him up in his seat.

"Motherfucker." He yelled, glancing over his shoulder to assess the damage.

"You alright?" Aria sounded worried, and shaken.

"No, some bastard just put a hole though my ship." He yelled, locking his course into the computer. He stood, staggering as another shot smashed into the craft.

"MATT!" Aleeza yelled, panicky, "COOLENT LEAK!"

"Oh shit, shit shit shit shit shit." He lunged towards the reactor shutdown, smacking the button to dump the fuel.

He felt his feet leave the deck as the acceleration dropped to zero.

"Shit." He navigated around to the pilots seat, looking across the various screens to find any power left.

"Matt." Novas voice was barely a whisper, "Matt, the first shot blew out the energy storage." She sighed, resignation creeping into her voice, "We've got nothing."

"What?" Aria yelled, "I'm coming back for a tow, now."

Matt glanced at the working commlink and nav system, they had their own power, but it was nowhere near enough to stop him plummeting into the moon, "There's no point. You don't have time. I'll crash, if you try and give me a tug, you'll crash too. Go. I'll be fine, I've survived harder landings in sim." He muted his mic, Nova looking at him with one shell part raised, "I have, honestly."

Aria could be heard talking to Jenny, background noise as he thought.

 _How to survive an impact at almost orbital speeds? How?_

He sat there, mulling over his options, before unmuting his mic, setting the commlink to record then send.

"Aria, Aleeza, Carina, Akiva." He paused, swallowing to try and clear the lump in his throat, "Honestly, I can only see one solution to this." He smiled thinly, his commlink recording his face inside his helmet, "I need power to slow down. And my reactor is, well, fucked is the technical term." He chuckled, with a mirthless smile, "I've got my suit power plant, but it would only get me enough if I divert power from all of my systems, including life support and my commlink. It will still be a hard landing, Nova's done the maths, initial impact will be about 100 metres per second."

He paused again, listening to them over the commlink, arguing over who should go back for the tug, "I'll live, but it's going to hurt. As soon as I can after landing, I'll make contact. Somehow. So, I guess thank you for putting up with me, thank you for training me. Tell Cayde he still owes me glimmer. And, well, if I don't make it, give me half a year to contact you at any rate, Aria, you can have my stuff. I don't care what you do with it. Burn it if you want too." He laughed again, another mirthless smile, "Though I'll haunt you from the grave if you do. Guardian 16452, Matt, out."

He paused, cutting the recording, "You sure about this?" Nova asked, floating closer to him.

He looked at the ghost, holding out a palm for her to land on, "Honestly? No." He sighed, taking a deep breath, leaning forwards.

His hand floated above the transmit button, shaking slightly.

 _Would I regret it, sending it, not sending it? Was it worth telling them my plan? Getting their hopes up that I might live?_

 _Well, if I don't send it, will I ever be found?_

He pressed the transmit button, the packet sending.

 _Packet_in_transit_

 _..._

 _25%_

 _..._

 _50%_

 _..._

 _75%_

 _..._

 _100% send complete_

He disabled the commlink, rerouting the power to the engines, "Nova, take it."

He heard the fans whine to a halt, his suit cooling rapidly, to about freezing.

He willed his light into his chest, letting it warm him up.

He slowed his breathing, moving as little as possible. The Luna surface approached, fast.

"Nova?" the ghost sat in his palm, staring at him.

"Yeah?" she whispered in reply.

"Talk to you soon." His vision started to go grey around the edges, his brain failing as his blood oxygen levels dropped. He curled his arms, hugging the ghost close to his chest, his vision darkening, static filling his ears.

-X-

Nova sighed, "Will do." She hit the engines, the thrust pushing Matt against the seat. They slowed, speed dropping slowly, 500 metres per second, 490, 480, 470...

Altitude fell faster, 10km, 9.5, 9, 8.5, 8...

She overrode his power plants safety lockouts, pushing the unit far past its tested limits. She could hear the whine from it though her shell, watching its temperature rise rapidly.

450, 430, 410, 390...

7.6, 7.2, 6.8, 6.4...

Terrain analysis, her own package, nothing good enough to tell her anything really useful, put their impact on the edge of a crater. She sighed in relief, they would hit it with less force. Odd of surviving went up a good 5%.

370, 350, 330, 310...

6, 5.7, 5.4, 5.1...

290...

4.8...

270...

4.5...

250...

The power fluttered, engines dropping thrust for half a second.

She stopped worrying about speed, started trying to finesse the power usage, keep the engines running.

4...

Power dropped again, engine thrust dropping for a full second.

Power cell overheating, 30 seconds to critical failure.

3...

Just 25 seconds till impact. Give or take 3 seconds.

2...

She closed her optic, leaving all the controls locked in position. The power plant screaming in protest to the energy being requested, she flinched when the she registered the sound.

1...

The ship jolted, Nova activating her AG as soon as she could. The ship shook as it skidded down the crater, engines powering down. She quickly diverted power back to Matt's life support unit, watching oxygen levels in the suit rise quickly.

She watched suit biometric report no major damage to bodily function, despite the high levels of CO2.

-X-

He woke, his vision fuzzy, sight blurred. He blinked, breathing quickly to clear his head.

He groaned, looking up to see grey rocks.

"Well," he croaked, "I'm not dead."

-X-

"Tower, this is Luna strike, we need assis..." the voice cut off, static tearing though the comm.

Ikora stopped in her tracks, her blood turning to ice, "Tell me that's not..."

Cayde had already sprinted over to the comm unit, arc energy dispersing as he skidded to a halt next to it. He grabbed the send-receive, "Guardian?"

"Losses," static washed out the guardians words, "at least ... ships are go ... hive leader ... knife though ... don't know ... many will return." The guardian was out of breath, the static not helping the clarity of his voice, "We need ... evac ... ships are ... send ... pickup."

The guardian screamed, the sound causing everyone in the room to stop.

Cayde looked stunned, "Guardian?"

He looked at Ikora, shaking his head, leaning back against the console, "Nothing. He's gone."

-X-

Aria listened to Matt, his voice sounding somewhat resigned, as if he had already worked out what was going to happen. She didn't see the packet terminate, opening up a commlink to him immediately.

"Matt." She started, barely registering the static wash that signified no connection.

"Aria." Carina said, "He won't hear you."

She watched his ship drop back, falling towards the surface, engines burning a gentle red-orange instead of their normal white.

"Aria." Jenny nudged her helmet, snapping her out of her thoughts, "They've shut down comms. They needed the power for the engines. He'll contact us as soon as possible." The ghost turned, the holographic controls shifting, "Let's get home."

-X-

He looked up, the first ships hitting the atmosphere, ionisation rolling off their shields as they fell. He counted a hundred, maybe 2, shooting down towards the tower.

Half a hundred lines opened in the tower comm network, "Guardian 13324, requesting immediate medical assistace on landing." "Ghost 09741, guardian down." "Come on Fin, stay with me." "Shit, I just lost an engine, going for late landing."

Cayde blocked them out, focusing on counting the number of ships currently diving towards the tower. He counted 214. Out of over 2,000. He felt hollow. 2,000 guardians dead.

"Whats the count?" Ikora placed a hand on his shoulder.

He looked at her, the look in his eyes scared her. She hadn't seen him like this, hollow, almost looking dead, "214." Was is anger?

She stopped, everything seeming to freeze, "214? Out of over 2,000?" That couldn't be right.

"It means that even if there are wounded, we can't expect more the 400 returning." Cayde paused for a whole second.

"Wounded." He sprinted towards the hanger, his voice booming though the tower PA, "Hanger is offlimits to civilians, Guardians returning. All medical staff are required to be in the hanger."

Ikora sighed, her light wrapping around her hand, "All warlocks, medical assistance is required in the hanger for guardians returning from Luna."

-X-

"Matt, you should stop."

"No. We can't be near the crashsite, it'll be a magnet for Fallen and Hive." He sighed, jumping towards the lip of the crater, "And it's not like I've got anything to defend myself with." He held up his handcannon, the barrel had split in the crash.

He hauled himself up over the lip, grunting with the effort. The battlefield spread out before him, guardians still fighting in pockets, those pockets slowly dwindling against the swarm of hive that threw themselves at the guardians.

They fell, one after the other. Falling, over and over again, each time one fell, another rushed to revive him or her. One by one, he saw the ghosts fall, grabbed and shattered by Knights, or ripped apart by armies of thrall.

Light flaired, lightning arcing though a wave of thrall, all of them disintegrating. He saw a titan charge forwards, their armour surrounded in purple energy, the void flicking out to absorb shots as they hit them. He pulled his sniper scope off the magnetic strip on his back, looking down it, aiming at the titan.

She leapt forwards, lightning ripping though Acolytes and Knights with ease. Matt watched, stunned that any guardians were still alive, let alone fighting with such energy.

"Nova, who is that?"

Nova didn't reply for a good 5 seconds, "That is Wei Ning."

Matt watched as the titan methodically tore her way though knights, dodging every single attack any of them could throw, seeming to have a perfect awareness of what was around her at all times. She ducked under a horizontal swipe, her fist finding the bottom of the knights head, ripping it off.

The large knight, glowing with a sickly green, stepped forwards, sword swinging incredibly fast towards her. He didn't see her move, but the sword smashed into her armoured gauntlet, void light flashing as the layer surrounding her shattered.

The titan, Wei, didn't stagger, her punch smashing into the creature, pushing it back a pace. It barely seemed to care, the sword flashing down as it backed away, forcing Wei to drop to the floor to avoid it. She sprung back to her feet, energy coiling around her as she punched, the shockwave knocking the creature back as it swung down. Both of them staggered back, the creature falling to one knee, the green glow dinning and almost going out entirely.

Wei slumped backwards, collapsing against a rock. She stood, staggering slightly. Matt could see the blood on the rock that she had fallen against. She staggered again, falling to one knee. Her armour had been destroyed, a gash from shoulder to hip bleeding heavily. She charged forwards, limping heavily as she ran towards the creature, light lancing from her to any Hive that tried to get close. A knight swung, aiming for her midsection. The void lashed out, shattering the sword feet away from her. Lightning chased it, the knight evaporating. She leapt forwards, the knight starting to rise as she did so.

The kick happened faster than Matt thought was possible, sending her flying backwards, her light dissipating into nothing.

 _YOU DARE CHALLENCE ME_

The voice was easily audible, even over such massive distances.

 _LIGHT. LIGHT IS A PLAGUE._

It kicked her again, she landed in a heap, convulsing in pain.

The creature bent down, picking up a ghost.

 _YOU DO NOT CONTROL DEATH, LIGHT. YOU SPREAD YOUR DISEASE AMONST THE STARS. YOU COULD NEVER FACE ME AND LIVE._

Its hand closed, the ghost sparking as the shell and core were destroyed.

 _WHERE IS YOU GOD NOW?_

Wei shook, struggling to stand. The creature cocked its head sideways.

 _YOU DON'T GIVE UP._

It laughed, the sword flying though the air. Wei jumped, spinning in the air to avoid the blade. Her light, the lightning, barely controlled, lanced though her body, propelling her towards the creature with incredible speed. It spun to the side, snatching her out of the air as she shot past it.

Its hand lit up, green fire running down its arm. The fire covered her armour, the void shattering in its presence. The creature dropped her, she crumpled to the ground, broken.

-X-

Aria landed, Jenny transmating them out of the cockpit. Her gaze passed around the hanger, ships dropping in, hunters rushing towards those who didn't transmat out. The count of those returned was looking grim, she'd barely passed 200 when the flow slowed to an almost halt.

Aleeza rushed towards a hunter, dried blood caking his armour. Carina was kneeling next to a ghost, its guardian appearing in a burst of light as she assisted in the revival.

"Aria? Where's Matt?" an exo's voice caused her to turn away from the hanger entrance. She saw Cayde, midway though jumping over the barrier that kept people from falling onto the hanger floor.

Matt.

She shook her head, "Still up there."

"What do you mean still up there?" Cayde sounded worried, his gaze darting around the hanger, presumably counting the hunters that had returned.

"Something took out his engines." She paused, the truth of what had happened slowly setting in, "He crashed back onto Luna."

Cayde blinked several times, smiling weakly, "He'll be fine. I've not seem many hunters as resilient as him. Now, could you give someone a hand, it looks like we're going to need it."

-X-

The guardian stood, a piece of shrapnel stuck in its back. Blood seeped out around the edges, staining the green cloak. It stood, taking 5 steps before staggering, falling presumably from blood loss.

Ekolzyn stood, sprinting towards the first chance he'd had in weeks to plan an escape attempt. If the Guardian co-operated, they could help each other.

Judgement would be passed, as was his duty to his house and people.

He just hoped he'd be able to help the guardian.

 **Hi. Sorry for this being late again, I rewrote quite a few parts before feeling OK with them.  
** **I'm away for the next 2 weeks, so workload will drop a bunch. I'll try to get some stuff done tho.  
Please tell me if there is something you like/I could do to improve. It means I'll improve my writing, and so you all get better writing to read, win win.  
** **Until next time.**


	8. Eliksni

**Hi. sorry about the long wait. Quick thing before you jump in to the chapter. I rewrote this chapter a bunch, and am still not rally happy with it, but I don't think i can do any better. Also, I'm back from holiday, so uploads should be more regular now.**

Aria ran back to the hanger, watching other run stretchers down to the infirmary. Her gauntlets had a thin layer of blood on them, the guardian in question having died before she could get them to someone who could help.

She saw Cayde shoot past, lightning arcing as he ran towards the infirmary, people jumping out of the way of the hunter vanguard.

A loud bang, followed by the screaming of metal on metal snapped her head towards the hanger door, a ship skidding into the safety nets.

Ikora had leapt onto the ship the moment it stopped, the front hatch exploding upwards as she did. A Titan stood, pushing himself over the edge of the cockpit landing, staggering and falling

Aleeza ran over, sliding to a halt next to him, blood caking his armour.

"Akiva?" She whispered.

-X-

The guardian whimpered, the shrapnel lodged in its back moving less and less with each breath it took. Ekolzyn held a finger to its neck, feeling it's pulse, which was weak and sporadic. He wondered where it's shard was, why it hadn't tried to help its guardian. He needed to get the guardian somewhere safer, so that he could attempt to remove the lump of metal.

"Nova." The guardians voice was weak, croaking.

At least he was not dead. Ekolzyn thanked the Great Machine, he might still have a hope of getting back the reef.

-X-

Matt woke, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. His back hurt. He sat up, groaning in pain as he did so. He look around, he was sitting on the side of a small bed in what looked like an infirmary. He stood, leaning against the wall for support. A door opened, a hiss of compressed air informing him of it. He turned, his eyes finding a Fallen standing in the doorway.

"En Hus." It spread its arms, showing no weapons, "Ne Yu Ekolzyn."

Matt blinked several times, "What?" He shook his head, trying to indicate he didn't understand, "Nova, can you help?"

She didn't materialise, choosing to instead speak to him via his earpiece, "It, wait, he is speaking Eliksni." She paused, "He said "No fight, My name, I'm assuming that Eliksni doesn't translate perfectly to English, so I'm adding some words so it makes complete sense, anyway, My name is Ekolzyn."

Matt nodded, "His name is Ekolzyn. How did he say that?"

"Ne Yu. It, directly translated, means I or Me Name."

He nodded again, looking back at the Fallen, "Ne Yu Matt." He said carefully, pointing to himself as he did.

"Not bad. Pronunciation was a little off." Nova commented, as the Fallen nodded, gesturing for him to follow.

Matt almost wanted to laugh, jogging over to the door.

"Nova, you have to teach me what you know of the Fallen language."

She laughed, the sound bringing a smile to Matt's face, "Or I could cheat, and just push what I know into your brain."

Matt shrugged, "Do that if it's quicker, I can't have you as my constant translator."

"Oh course, I'll set it up for tonight, or whenever is the next time you sleep."

The fallen stopped, stabbing his fingers at a number pad, the door hissing open after 3 attempts.

It turned once inside, another door revealing itself, great urging again for Matt to walk in, as well as indicating that he should put on his helmet. He did, the helmet sealing with a hiss of gas. The fallen turned, punching more numbers into the next door. The door behind them sealed shut, the hiss of gas could be heard from inside the room, a while mist seeping in. The second door opened, revealing a large room, white mist swirling around, not enough to to be an obstruction.

"Nova, what is this stuff?" Matt waved a hand through the mist, watching it swirl in the current created by his hand.

"Ether. The fallen rely on it to breathe, it is also their primary source of sustenance."

The fallen sat down on a chair, turning to type on some sort of interface. Two screens flickered into life, one showed a series of symbols, the other 3 human languages, one was an Asian language, presumably Chinese, one looks like Russian, and the last was English.

The fallen pointed to the screen, then to the chair in front of it. Matt took a seat, pulling an standard English keyboard, a real keyboard, towards him. The fallen pushed some buttons on his interface, word appearing on Matts screen.

 _I am Ekolzyn of House Judgement. Why were the Warriors of the Great Machine on this rock?_

Matt stared at the keyboard, composing his response in his head.

 _Hello Ekolzyn, I am Matt. We were here to reclaim the moon from the Hive. It did not go to plan._

The fallen chuckled, a low rumble.

 _No, it did not._

 _Why did you save me?_

 _Because I need help. I cannot send a message to my clan. I have a plan, but I've needed a second body to help. None of the Exiles would help, so I had hoped you would. That is why I saved your life._

A pause. Matt glanced across at Ekolzyn, the fallen slowly typing.

 _Where is your Shard?_

 _My Shard? What do you mean?_

 _A Shard of the Great Machine. I was told that all those who fight with the Great Machines gifts have one._

 _My Ghost? She's with me._

 _Why didn't she fix you?_

 _The darkness. I'm quoting her, she said that the darkness was having an adverse effect on her ability to fix any injury, as well as mine._

 _Why are you still here? Did the others abandon you?_

 _No. I was shot down during the retreat._

 _So do you need to send a message to your Kell so they will come to pick you up?_

Matt sighed, _Yes. I told my fire team, and a few friends I'd send a signal within 6 months._

 _Then we'd best hurry. I have a few locations that look like communication beacons, they might be able to send a signal to your friends._

Matt nodded, typing one last thing into the translator, _Thank you. For saving my life._

Ekolzyn grunted, _You will need to recover first. Since your Shard is with you, you should recover sooner than without._

Matt stood, _I hope so._

He turned, walking into the airlock system that the fallen, no, Ekolzyn had set up. He pushed a button, the inner door closing, a hiss of gasses being exchanged in the small space between the two doors. The air cleared, Eather being sucked into the area Ekolzyn had converted for his purposes.

The outer door opened, Matt pulling his helmet off, clipping it to small connector on his hip.

"What hit me? I don't remember anything?"

Nova materialised, wobbling from side to side as she floated along near his shoulder, "I don't know for certain, but most likely it was something that was dislodged when the ship got shot, then hit you when we crashed. The wound has mostly healed externally, and most of the internal damage has cleared up. You should be good by tomorrow, but resting would help."

Matt nodded, "Yeah, I figured rest would be useful. First though, I want to go find the canteen, and I'm hoping there's is something there, I'm starving."

Nova laughed, but it sounded hollow, there was no life in it, "Trust you to think of food first."

-X-

"How is he?"

She shrugged, leaning against the wall, "Not good. They haven't been able to extract the knife, they don't know where Lex is, and don't want to risk killing him if…" She paused, taking a deep breath, her eyes wet, "If Lex is dead."

Aria took a step towards Aleeza, pulling her into a hug, "At least he's alive. The Phoenix order have fixed worse."

Aleeza sighed, "I suppose I can hope, if nothing else." She pushed away from Aria, looking into her white eyes, "How are you?"

Aria shrugged, "Fine, mostly. Do you think…"

Aleeza cut her off, "Matt is alive." There was a hardness in her voice, a certainty that caught Aria by surprise, "If he's not, I'm going to kill him."

The infirmary door opened, Carina stepping out, "They got the knife out." Her voice was controlled, her expression almost unreadable.

"What is it?" Aria asked, almost scared of what the answer could be.

Carina shook her head, her eyes dark. She turned, walking back into the infirmary, back into the partitioned section that Akiva was in. She stood to the side, letting the two other guardians through. Akiva lay in the centre of the area, connected to a machine via various ports in his armour. His helmet had been removed, it was clear to Aria and Aleeza that he was asleep. A tap of metal against metal cause both their head to turn, whipping around, both of them on edge.

Aleeza choked back a cry, Arias hand flying to her mouth, a rush of static indicating a shocked breath. The dagger was lying in a metal pan, a dark, flickering blue light emanating from the back of it. It jittered, two parts of it seeming to try and rotate, moving a bit, tapping against the side of the pan. A dark mustard coloured stain on most the warped metal, with a strip of grey-white wobbling through the centre. Aria could see the tears in her eyes, as Carina stepped towards Aleeza.

"That's not…" Aleeza's voice choked, tears starting to run down her cheeks. She looked at Carina, who stared back, blinking rapidly, trying to think of what to say.

Her silence confirmed Aleeza's fear, she collapsed into the chair by Akiva, tears running freely down her face. Her whole body shook, her head resting next to her brothers. Aria looked at Carina, concern in her eyes. Carina simply shook her head, her expression one of distraught.

"Is there anything we can do?" She placed a hand on Aleeza's shoulder, the warlock not reacting to it at all.

Carina pulled her away, pushing her gently towards the door, "Give her some time to herself. That would help." The two Exo's walked out of the infirmary, Aria looking shocked, "I keep an eye on her, I promise." Carina reassured Aria. Aria simply nodded, turning and walking away from the infirmary.

A stream of guardians from the hanger was a pointed reminder that there would be more lost. Aria slumped against the wall, sinking to the floor.

"Jenny?" She sighed, staring at the floor.

"Aria." The ghost floated at eye level, "What is it?"

Aria held out a palm, letting the ghost settle on it, "That could have been you."

"It could have been. But it wasn't." The ghost spoke softly, "That's all that matters." She floated off Aria's palm, "Come on. You're not helping anyone sitting there."

Aria stood, slowly, "I know."

-X-

He looked across the corridor, Ekolzyn nodding at him. Matt turned the corner, watching shot bounce off his shields, the bar on his HUD dropping slowly. He aimed, leading his target slightly, pulling the trigger. The pistol kick percussively, three fast beats. The three projectiles flew through the air in lazy spirals, the dreg not noticing them until it ran into the first one. The vandal screamed, yelling abuse at him. He blocked it out, firing again, a Shank falling and exploding on the floor. Ekolzyn peaked around the corner, firing three times at the vandal. It flinched backwards, a blackened hole in its armour. Matt spun, ducking under a shock blade, his foot connecting with the second dregs head with a satisfying crunch. He turned to face the vandal, to see Ekolzyn knock its shock dagger aside, planting his in its skull. Matt jumped towards the control console, thumbing the button Nova told him to. The system booted up, various screens embedded into the control console flickering into life, casting shadows on the wall behind him. He wiped the dust build up off the screen, shaking his gloved hand to remove the dust from his armour.

He pushed a few more buttons, the screen switching to a communication hub. Various systems in the room booted up, ancient circuits sparking inside their ancient casing. A wire sparked at the end of the room, a screen showing a fault. Matt pushed a few buttons, swiping his hand across the screen, pushing all the items on screen to the edge. He tapped on the error, clicking into the diagnostic information. Nova materialised, partially hiding from Ekolzyn behind Matt as he looked at the screen, blue light pulsing from her optic.

 _Guardian, is that your shard?_

 _Yes. She is worried you might hurt her._

"Matt!" Nova chipped in, "Why would you tell him that?"

He looked at her, "Honsety." He turned back to Ekolzyn, _Ekolzyn, this is my ghost, Nova. She taught me all of your language that she knows. She also helps me when I need it._

Ekolzyn took a few steps towards Matt, his body language suggesting he wanted to see Nova, _She is the one that helps you heal from wounds and lets you cheat death._

Matt nodded, _Yeah. She's also a decent lock pick, and can crack most golden age encryption._ He turned to Nova, "I doubt Ekolzyn will try to hurt you. He wants my help." Nova raised a single point, Matt sighed, "Just don't show yourself to any other Fallen."

"Come on, Einstein, I'm not that dumb. There, found your fault." She drifted forwards, tapping the screen over a part, which zoomed in on the screen, displaying a series of fault messages, "Right, you go and have a look at it."

Matt nodded, a brief blue light indicating that Nova had vanished. He opened a hatch in the floor, pulling the cover off its rusted hinges. He dropped down into the crawl space, scrambling forwards.

"Ok, look left," Nova said. Matt looked left, seeing a leaver.

"I'm guessing that's where I want to be." He muttered, yanking the lever down. The panel slid down, the lever catching it so it was just poking out above the bottom of the crawl space. He stuck his head inside the hole, looking left then right.

"Ok, what am I looking for?" He pulled his head out, looking at Nova, who had materialised in front of him. She dived into the empty space, a pulse of light indicating that she was scanning for something. She spun around, "It's not here. Someone has ripped it out."

Matt sighed, turning and scrambling to the hatch. Ekolzyn grabbed his hand as he climbed out, pulling him out of the hole.

 _Thanks._

Ekolzyn pointed to the door, then made a cutting motion.

 _There are Exiles outside._ He whispered, _Hide over there, I'll talk to them._ He pointed to a dark corner, _If it all goes wrong, feel free to kill them._

Matt nodded, crouching into the small space partially hidden by some boxes.

The door hissed open, Ekolzyn turning and acting surprised.

 _Honoured Eliksni, what do you want?_

The voice that replied was harsh, _What are you doing here, spy?_

 _Investigating the Humans encryption systems. I hope to crack it soon._

 _Hurry, spy. We grow impatient. They lost a large amount of light when they attacked, we want to take advantage of that._

Ekolzyn shrugged, _Then attack. You don't need them to tell you they lost a large proportion of their forces._

The other fallen snarled, _No. We need to know where they are weakest._

Ekolzyn shrugged again, _Then give me time. This takes time to do. Now go away, leave me to find what I need._

The fallen snarled again, Matt tensed, ready to jump out. It drew a shock blade, drawing the blade across its hand, _Spy, that is a promise to you. Crack their encryption. You have a month._

Ekolzyn nodded, the other fallen turning and leaving.

Matt waited until Ekolzyn walked over to his hiding spot, gesturing for him to come out. He did, standing and twisting left the right, stretching his back.

 _So, they don't like you._

Ekolzyn laughed, _No they do not. Though I suspect they would like you less._

-X-

She staggered back to the hanger, looking around frantically for anyone who needed help. She saw Holliday, the shipwright, struggling to remove a large chunk of debris from an engine port. Aria walked up to her, "Do you need a hand?"

Amanda grunted, "Maybe." She gave the lump of metal another tug, it moved a centimetre, "Ok, yeah." She sighed stepping back, letting Aria grab the lump. She pulled, hard, putting as much force in as she could. The metal moved screaming against fan blades, tearing it out of the turbine. She dropped it on the hanger floor, the crash of metal on metal reverberating around the hanger.

"Thanks." Holiday grunted, moving forward to start dismantling the engine.

Aria nodded, moving across the hanger towards the plaza, usually a bustling centre of guardian activity was silent, empty for the most part, small groups milling around, pained looks on their faces. She walked past them, wondering aimlessly through the area. She stopped briefly at the postmaster, finding nothing for her, she continued walking, dragging her feet into the lift, defending, walking out automatically. She thumbed the button on her door, collapsing onto her bed, dried blood flaking off her armour.

Jenny watched Aria shut down, going into a sleep cycle. She reached out to Lena,

xJenny

oLena

 _I'm sorry. How are they?_

xLena

oJenny

 _Jenny? They are both not well. Akiva's wound continues to defy the warlocks attempts of heal it, and Aleeza is… shaken. She does not want to lose her brother, but she can't do anything. How is Aria?_

 _xJenny_

 _oLena_

 _She worries. For Akiva, for Aleeza, and for Matt. I think she does not expect him to survive. Yet she hopes for a message._

 _xLena_

 _xJenny_

 _Aleeza believes Matt will live. So does Carina. Excuse me, I need to talk to Aleeza._

Lena cut the connection, sounding worried. Jenny glanced at Aria, her lights almost off, silently thanking the traveller that her guardian had survived. She settled down, resting on her bottom four points, setting her systems to rest until Aria was out of her sleep cycle.

The room grew quiet, the air barely moving.

-X- _six weeks later_

Matt opened the outer airlock, his heel flicking the door close behind him. The chamber hissed, air flooding in from the tanks. A heavy thunk could be heard as the second, inner door opened, Matt pulling his helmet off, sprinting down the corridor. He skidded around a corner, taking a right then a left, then another right. He shouldered the metal door open, Ekolzyn spinning around, weapon drawn.

 _I found one._ Matt panted, _Far away, maybe a days walk. I saw some Exiles dragging salvage gear towards it on the way back, but they had just set off._

Ekolzyn lowered his gun, pushing a button on the console behind him, a map appearing on a large central screen, _Where is it?_

Matt pointed, _There. But we need to go now if we want to beat the salvage crews._

Ekolzyn laughed, _Eager to get home. It's only been a two months. Yeah, I'll be ready soon._ The fallen walked into his compartment, the airlock sealing behind him. Matt turned to their makeshift weapons locker, containing an assortment of human and fallen weapons they had collected on their ventures to a total of 16 separate satellite stations within a half days walk of Ekolzyn's home in a golden age Luna accommodation habitat. Matt gabbed a old human build weapon, similar to the first gun he ever picked up as a guardian over 18 months ago. He loaded it, racking the bolt and flicking the safety on. Ekolzyn came back out of his compartment, wearing modified armour which allowed for greater protection than his standard Eliksni armour. It consisted of part of Matt's armour he had replaced and alloys found on their attempts to find a working satellite. Matt had replaced his chest plate with part of the carapace on a knight, which he had spent almost an entire day chipping down to the right size. Despite Ekolzyn's frustration at the time it had taken him, they were in agreement that the outcome did look pretty good, and was very durable. The chest plate Matt had replaced had been snapped up by Ekolzyn, who spent all of five minutes cutting it into sections before layering it on top of his existing armour. He leg guards were made of a titanium alloy, bent over his existing armour. The rest he had left, claiming he didn't want to ruin his ability to move his arms. He offered Matt a fallen sniper rifle.

 _No thanks. I hadn't got used to the charging period. You have it. I'll be up close and personal._ Matt pumped a shotgun, slipping it onto the magnetic strip on his back, _Ready?_

Ekolzyn nodded, _Yes._ He turned, leading the way to the airlock. The inner door sealed, air hissing as it vented. The outer door popped open, Ekolzyn tapping a button on the outside. An area next to the airlock shimmered, revealing a pair of fallen one man vehicles.

Matt shook his head, _You had these all along._

Ekolzyn laughed, jumping onto one of them. Matt grumbled, hopping onto the one next to him. The two pikes shot off, Matt leading.

-X-

He pulled up next to the outer airlock, the portal sealed. Ekolzyn pushed a series of buttons, Matt presumed it was a default code he had found. The door opened, swinging outward automatically. The hurried in, Matt covering the door as it swung closed. Air hissed into the chamber, the second door sliding open. They walked out cautiously, both of their weapons raised. Matt listened out for any unusual sounds, taking very shallow breaths.

"Nova, is this a similar layout to the others?" He whispered, both him and Ekolzyn having agreed to be as quiet as possible.

"Yes, although I'm detecting something odd below us. The control centre is up, however, so you don't have to worry about that at the moment." He could hear the faint sound of Eliksni, Nova had transmitted the same thing to Ekolzyn. It has taken a month for Nova to trust the Eliksni, after which she had happily helped him on many occasions.

A scrabbling sound snapped him out of his thoughts, the shotgun aimed in less than half a second. He gestured to Ekolzyn, _Let's go._

They made their way up the stairs, systematically clearing the immediate area near the stairs on each floor. Nova watched, fascinated by how much the two of them trusted each other. They walked occasionally Matt standing behind Ekolzyn as he advanced crouched as Matt aimed over his head, but mostly Matt moving forwards in a crouch, knife and shotgun held ready as Ekolzyn aimed above him, keeping him covered from long range threats, in theory, as they found nothing. Nova had made a recording of the entire sequence, planning on showing it to Akiva when they returned.

They reached the top floor, neither of them having fired a single shot. Matt stood, letting Nova scan the controls.

"Hey, there's some weird energy signature coming from over there." She highlighted a secure box in his HUD. He walked up to it, examining the mechanism and keypad before holding an UV camera to it. He fed the camera feed into his helmet, his view changing. He saw a series of 3 buttons highlighted, many fingerprints blending over each other. He pushed the buttons, 630. Nothing happened.

360

Again, nothing.

603

The mechanism disengaged, the lid opening with a hiss of pneumatics. A strange looking rifle was inside, it had a standard trigger and stock, and the heavy sight mounted on the top suggested it was a sniper rifle. Matt picked it up, it weighed much less than he expected. Nova turned, "The reading just got much higher, oh, yeah, that's the source."

Matt turned it over in his hands, examining it for any indication that it behaved like a conventional weapon.

Nova spun around, _Ekolzyn, you know what to do, right?_

He chuckled, _You wound me, Shard. (_ He hadn't ever bothered using her name) _Have a little faith._

Nova shot over the box, which Matt was sitting next too, reading a paper instruction manual. He leafed through it, scanning the pages for a part on operation. He stopped, settling the booklet down. Nova glanced at the page, he was looking at what looked like a dummy's guide to operating the weapon.

It read: How to operate energy protection weapon testbed 0772, code name Icebreaker.

 _WARNING: weapon is unstable. If use causes fatal damage, please replace the following components if weapon fails, HEAT SINK, MAGAZINE, OPERATOR_

 _This weapon is a testbed for energy protection weaponry, being monitored by the WAR_CC_

 _This weapon does not use bullets, it fire concentrated energy in the form of heat. It is lethal on any human scale target (simulated) and some large mammals (field test). As such, it does not require reloading, as energy if fed to the firing system from a new energy source. Firing is as follows;_

 _Step 1)Ensure safety is off and weapon is aimed down range_

 _Step 2)Pull the trigger when aimed at desired target._

Matt laughed, "Seems easy enough." He slipped the gun onto his back, slinging the shotgun over his left shoulder, letting his rifle swing over his right.

Ekolzyn looked over his shoulder, _Matt, the satalite is ready. I have transmitted my message. Your turn, but hurry. I told my friend you would help me get back._

Matt shot over the console, typing furiously. A burst of noise broke through the speakers into the room.

-X-

Aria sat down, "How is he?"

Aleeza didn't look up, "Not good. They put him into a coma earlier."

Aria stood, walking around the low table to sit next to the awoken warlock, "He'll pull through." She smiled, not really feeling it, "If he doesn't, I'll kill him."

Aleeza looked up, a small smile on her face, "That makes two of us. I told him that."

Static lanced through her comms, she flinched.

"... Aria, I don't have much time. I've got some coordinates, if you can get there."

Aleeza's eyes were wide, she pointed at her ear, _Are you hearing this?_

Aria nodded, "Matt. Your alive."

He chuckled, "Yeah, just about. Does anyone have a big ship, one that could fit maybe four or five."

Aleeza nodded, "Yeah. I'll take mine. Why do we need the space?"

Matt sounded tense, "I met a friend. Eliksni. He needs us to help him. So we need extra space, and a way to board without a transmat."

Aleeza was already walking out, "Yeah, got it. I'll be there in 10 minutes, Aira will be on board." Aria nodded, her helmet appearing in her hands.

The two ran towards the hanger, Aleeza putting in a request for immediate take off.

-X-

Matt turned away, "Got it." _Ekolzyn, the people who are coming to rescue us will help you get to where you need to go. If they don't, I will._

He nodded, _I help you, then you help me. I like the way you work long term._ The Eliksni turned off the satellite array, locking down the controls the best he could.

 **So, what do you think? As always, any constructive criticism is welcome.  
Untill next time.**


	9. Rescue

They barrelled towards the rendezvous, the whine-snap of Ekolzyn's wire rifle and the high pitched pulse of Matt new energy weapon counterpointing the scream of hive weapons. Matt dropped a grenade, the sphere rolling down the incline towards the swarm. Thrall swarmed over it, muffling the dull boom. Burning bits of Thrall flew, the grenade ripping their fragile bodies to shreds. Neither Matt or Ekolzyn turned, focusing on rushing up the hill.

 _Where are your friends?_ Ekolzyn shouted between breaths. His wound wasn't helping him run, of course they would run into a vengeful captain just when they didn't need to.

Matt looked towards the sky, hoping to see the flash of a ship dropping out of subspace.

Nothing.

 _I don't know._ He sighed, _It's a pain in the arse getting clearance for flight. They should be here soon._ The hunter paused, aiming blindly over his shoulder, firing two shots into the mass. Two bursts of light briefly lit up the ground around them, Matt scoring two easy hits. Even firing blind, missing was near impossible due to the number of Thrall chasing them. They reached the precipice after a few minutes frantically running, pausing every so often to fire some more accurate shots into the Acolytes and Knights. Between them, they had thinned the horde quite significantly, although they were still running from at least 100 hive.

More than they could fight in a pitched battle. They needed reinforcements, and an evac ship. Sooner rather than later.

-X-

Aria growled, actually physically growled at the technician when he said that the requested craft would be ready in 10 minutes. As much as the intimidation worked, it didn't have any effect on the retrieval speed of Aleeza's 4-man ship. Ten minutes later, Aria and Aleeza sprinted up the access ramp, Aleeza sliding into the pilots' seat, the engines already in start-up before she had started to secure the straps holding them in their seats. Aria was barely strapped in before the ship shuddered, lifting smoothly off the landing legs, rear-facing engines rumbling.

"Guardian 09827, requesting permission to launch."

Amanda Holiday's voice came over the comms, "Granted." She paused, the channel had been left open, a slight hiss audible through the speakers, "Good luck." She cut the connection.

Aleeza engaged the rear engines, the ship jumped forwards, shooting out of the hanger, the engines growl rising quickly to a scream, before shifting out of the audible range. They rose quickly, spiralling around the flight lanes in their reckless rush towards space. Aria, with nothing to do but watch, checked both of their weapons, ensuring they were loaded and ready to fire.

The engines cut, winding down with a whistling sound. The ship spun and rolled, the planet now above them.

"Jump ready. All secure." Aleeza said, her hand hovering over the leaver that would take them into subspace.

Aria checked her harness, tugging on the connectors, "All secure."

"Jumping."

A rising whine, pale while light building along the wings. They leant back in their seats, helmets resting on headrests.

The rising whine stopped, the ship flashing white before vanishing.

"ETA 5 minutes. Jump successful." Lena said.

Aria started checking the guns again, mechanically sliding bolts back and checking magazines. She handed Aleeza her Pulse and Fusion rifle, the latter glowing with barely tames energy. She holstered her Hand cannon, slinging her shotgun under her arm. She stood, checking her armour was sealed properly, energizing her shields.

"Two minutes," Lena reported, the ghost looking towards the two guardians as they readied all their gear. Aleeza returned to the pilot's chair, swinging her rifles to hang by her sides.

"Thirty seconds."

Aria sat back down, staring out of the toughened plastic cockpit covering into the almost mesmerising patterns produced when travelling through subspace.

"10 seconds."

She closed her eyes, waiting for the kick that meant that she could stand again.

The ship jolted, Aria rising as it wobbled before regaining its heading.

"Dead ahead." Lena shouted, "I'll fly us in, you go help Matt."

Aleeza nodded, turning and joining Aria by the back ramp. Her light coiled around her fists, Void lashing out towards the hull.

The ramp dropped.

-X-

Matt skidded to a halt at the top of the hill, turning and firing down into the mass of hive that still ran towards them, Thrall vaporised in flashes of energy. Ekolzyn slowed, turning as he reached where Matt was standing, his wire rifle firing with percussive cadence. Matt let the rifle swing on its strap, switching to the auto rifle they had found.

He ducked and spun left, a blue flash crossing the space he had occupied half a second earlier.

 _Knights!_ Matt yelled, firing the rifle full auto towards the larger hive creatures. The one he was aiming at staggered then fell backwards, a hole bored through the centre of its head. More shots screamed past his head, the Acolytes and Thrall advancing. A grenade formed in his hand, he flicked it towards the hoard. It detonated, throwing thrall in all directions as Acolytes shielded their heads. Knights charged through the explosion, trampling on dead and alive thrall as they rushed up the hill.

Matt swore, drawing a golden gun for the first time in months, firing three pinpoint shots at the 5 rushing knights, three of them erupting as the energy boiled though them. The other two continued to charge forwards, swords trailing behind them as they ran. Matt fired the rest of his magazine into one of them, drawing his shock blade as they approached. Ekolzyn threw a shock grenade, atomising a dozen acolytes as they ran forwards.

Matt met the first swing from the knight with the shock blade, deflecting it away towards the ground. The knight swung horizontally, Matt barely moving out of the way as he tried to close the distance between them. He ducked under the return swing, jumping forwards with a rising knee to the Knights' jaw. It staggered, allowing Matt to stab his shock blade into its head. It stiffened, falling backwards as Matt ripped the blade out. He jumped forwards, embedding the blade in an acolyte's skull, drawing his sniper as he did. He turned, firing across the hill as a brilliant white flash lit everything up, Matt flinching away from the source as the whine of a jump ship greeted him. He smiled, aiming more carefully at a group of Acolytes still recovering from the flash. He fired 3 times, each shot causing a further flash as another Acolyte detonated.

Something smashed into him from the side, he shields shattering under the force of the impact. He staggered as more shots landed around him, energy washing over his armour. He almost collapsed, lunging away from another blue projectile.

The blast caught him, throwing him away. He landed awkwardly, rolling over before skidding to a halt on his chest. A knight sprinted towards him as he started to get up, his whole body aching.

-X-

Aria saw the knight sprinting towards the hunter, raising its sword for a killing blow. She jumped, letting her light build up around her fists as she fell, cannoning into the ground in front of the knight. It flinched away, her light racing along the ground towards it. It fell forwards as the light hit its feet, landing hard on the lunar surface. She punched down, crushing its head, before throwing a grenade towards a group of advancing Acolytes.

The scattered, the grenades flash blinding them temporarily. She rushed over to Matt as the hunter stood up slowly.

"Good to see you." She smiled beneath her helmet.

"You too." Matt sounded out of breath, "Good timing as well." He turned towards the hive, watching as Aleeza tore thought at least 20 with a ruthless display of void manipulation, Hive bodies erupting in a colossal chain explosion.

Aria saw the hunter stager slightly, she grabbed his arm to steady him, "Come on. Let's get to the ship."

The ship landed, the ramp just touching the ground as the approached. Aria held onto Matt's arm as he walked up the ramp, sliding down the side of the ship as soon as he was on board.

"Aleeza." Aria shouted, "Time to go."

The warlock turned, a flash of void light moving her back on board. She pushed some controls, the ship taking off as she sat down.

"Did you…" Aria trailed off, looking expectantly at the warlock as she slowly increased their speed.

Aleeza turned, shaking her head.

Aira nodded, "I'll tell him."

-X-

The battlefield painted a glorious picture of the destruction. Huge void scars marked the ground around where Aleeza had decimated the Hive, some smaller scorch marks where Matt's shots had landed.

A single sword stood out of the ground, the creature embedded on it watched the ship leave with a blank stare, it's cloak waving in the disturbance created by the engines.

-X-

Aria walked over to Matt, who was still sitting slumped against the side of the ship. She sat down next to him, the hunter shuffling himself closer to the Exo. He leaned backwards, his head resting against the hull.

"Thanks for coming." He sighed. Aria could see his shoulders slowly relaxing, tension slowly bleeding out of him.

She smiled, removing her helmet, "I wasn't going to leave you."

Matt smiled underneath his helmet, feeling his eyelids start to droop of their own accord.

"Sorry about getting left behind." He mumbled, his head lolling to the side to rest against Aria's shoulder as he nodded off.

Aleeza turned around, seeing the hunter resting against the Exo, and smiled, trying hard not to laugh, "Is he alright?"

Aria nodded, "Yeah. Think he took a bit of a battering during the fight, probably just need some time to rest afterwards."

Nova materialised, bumping into Aria's arm, "Yeah, that's about it." The ghost spun towards Aleeza, "Thank you." Back to Aria, "Both of you."

Aleeza smiled at the ghost, "We don't leave friends behind if we can help it."

The ghost looked at her guardian, "Could we not jump back to Earth. He needs rest."

Aleeza nodded, "It'll take a few hours then." She grabbed a book, throwing another at Aria, "You might like that."

Aria caught the book, smiling at the Warlock, "Thank you."

-X-

"Who?" Zavala asked, leaning against the table.

"You know damn well who I'm talking about." The hunter replied, "Praedyth. There were three of us."

Ikora moved towards the hunter, "I'm sorry Pahanin. I don't know anyone called Preadyth." She looked back at Cayde, who shook his head, "None of us do."

The hunter rounded on her, "He was one of your warlocks." His eyes had a dangerous light to them, "One of the best warlocks you or Osiris had ever seen. How could all of you forget him?" He suddenly lost steam, his eyes wet with unshed tears, "How does no-one remember him?"

He visibly flinched, seemly just realising who he was talking to, "I'm sorry." His voice was clipped, formal, "I didn't mean to offend anyone. I, just..." he paused, "I just expected something else."

Pahanin turned away, walking out quickly, leaving behind only silence. Even Cayde didn't seem to have a witty remark to lighten the mood.

"Hey, Vanguard?" Holidays voice broke the increasingly dead air, "I've just seen a ship heading out atmosphere." She seemed to sense the silence between the three of them, "Bad time?"

Zavala sighed, "No. Not at all. Go ahead Holiday."

The shipwright cleared her throat, "Right, yeah. A guardian ship was seen leaving the atmosphere about a half hour ago."

Cayde looked up, muttering to himself, before speaking at an audible level, "Who was on board?"

Holiday paused, typing could be heard through her microphone, "Um, Aria-1 and Aleeza Wahl. The ship was requested under, uh, "We have some things to pick up for Carina", but I don't know what, and they were very eager to leave."

Zavala swore, "Did they lose anyone on Luna?"

Cayde nodded, "Matt was lost during the rout, although Aria's report said that they were attempting to land safely and would contact her as soon as possible."

"Then they've gone to get him back." Ikora said matter-of-factly, "As best they could."

Zavala shook his head, "No one is allowed back to Luna. They'll just get themselves killed."

Cayde stepped towards the Titan, "They went to get one of my hunters back. They will get him back." He stood centimetres from the Titan, staring daggers, "If Matt is alive, and has contacted them, they have every right to attempt a rescue mission."

Cayde turned to the centre of the table, where Amanda's voice was coming from, "I'll sign that flight if you need me to."

Zavala grumbled, turning to talk to a titan that had just walked in.

"Ok then." Holiday sounded further away from her microphone, "I'll add that to the launch log."

Clattering could be heard from her side of the connection before it cut off.

-X-

Aria shook Matt's shoulder, "Come on, lazy. Places to be, people to talk to."

Matt sat up slowly, his entire body aching from sleeping in an uncomfortable position, "Wha…"

She offered a hand to the hunter, who grabbed it. She hauled him to his feet, watching him walk slowly towards the front of the craft.

He placed a hand against the headrest of the pilot's chair, watching out the cockpit canopy as the tower hanger swallowed them.

"Thank you." He looked down at Aleeza as she landed, "Ekolzyn didn't make it, did he?" he asked quietly.

The warlock looked up at him as the ship settled on its landing legs, "I don't leave my fireteam behind. Even if you aren't technically part of it." She paused, shaking her head, "He didn't make it. I'm sorry."

Matt was suddenly pleased that he had chosen to keep his helmet on. The Eliksni, the one who had saved his life, was dead. Gone, and there was nothing he could have done to save him.

Aria watched as his shoulders slumped, "Matt." She pulled him into a hug, "At least you're alive."

He barely moved, trying to shrug his way out of Aria's hug, "Yeah, I guess." He sounded distracted, "Nova, did we manage to finish the list?"

The ghost nodded, bobbing up and down in Aria's periphery, "All two thousand and fifty-three names."

Matt finally managed to break himself out of Aira's hug, moving towards the ramp, "I have to do something." His voice was low, wounded, "Thank you. Both of you." He turned and trudged down the ramp, Nova following along at his shoulder.

Aria shouted after him, "What do you need to do?"

He didn't turn or respond, just continued to walk.

 **Hi.  
** **Been a while.  
Sorry about that, IRL things got in the way, and I couldn't get this chapter to sit right.  
Too many damn re-writes.  
Anyway, here it is, hope you enjoyed, and I'll try to update more frequently, but I can't make any promises.  
Until next time.**


	10. Hidden

Aria jumped forwards, planting a knee in the other guardian's face. The hunter went down, his head snapping backwards. She ducked instinctively, a grenade sailing over her head. She spun, bringing her shotgun up to aim at a titan charging at her. She pulled the trigger, the gun kicking back as the titan flew backwards, blood seeping out the holes in her armour.

A familiar pop of a scout rifle over her shoulder sounded as Carina opened fire, bullets finding their mark, forcing the warlock to duck back into cover. She saw Aria start to move, energy building around her fist. The other Exo slid forwards, lunging around the corner, her fist connecting with a crack that Carina heard from where she was. She saw a blue flash as Aria turned, smashing her shoulder into a running hunter, getting a knife in the side in return. The hunter flew backwards, spinning in the air before jumping towards the titan, energy rippling along his knife. She leapt towards the hunter, energy surging along her arms as she hit the ground, sending the energy racing towards the hunter, who tried desperately to dive out of the way, his own arc light pushing towards the approaching energy. The two sources clashed around the hunters' feet, the harsh colour of the hunters' arc pulsing bright before shattering, Aria's dark blue wave atomising the hunter.

She laughed as Shaxx announced the match over, quickly transmating back to her ship.

-X-

Nova bumped into Matt's shoulder, repeating herself for the fourth time, "You need to eat."

Her guardian barely looked up from the circuit, his hands steady as he lowered the component into place, "I'll eat later." He mumbled, "I'm busy."

Nova sighed, shaking her shell before flying around to block his view of the circuit, "No. You haven't eaten in days." Her tone softened, "I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine." He snapped, pushing the ghost away.

Nova looked at her guardian, his eyes had a faraway look in them, he hadn't slept in days either, constantly working on his little project. She looked at the circuit over his shoulder, it seemed to consist of mostly memory chips. She watched as his hands lowered the next part into place, amazed at how he was still able to not shake from so long without sleep or food. She zipped away, spiralling around the kitchen area, scanning for something easy to make quickly.

All she found was a pot of instant hot chocolate and a few microwave pizzas. She shrugged her front half, transmatting the pizza out of the box and wrapper into the microwave, which she turned on for 3 minutes. She floated back to Matt, who had the circuit held up to a bright light. She watched him inspect the whole board, one hand holding it while the other hand wrote down numbers on a tablet.

The microwave buzzed, she floated over to it, transmatting a plate next to Matt as she did so. The pizza looked done, the few times she had seen Matt heat one up it had looked similar. She quickly prepared a transmat, checking and double checking she was sending the pizza to the right point.

She heard Matt grunt from the small section he had boarded off. Floating over the barricade slowly, she saw that he had set the circuit down, and half the pizza had already been eaten. She saw him smile as he looked over towards her, nodding silent thanks. Within minutes, the pizza had been eaten, Matt standing up slowly. He looked back at the circuit, covering it with a piece of fabric before moving towards the kitchen area, plate in hand. He dropped it in the dishwasher, yawning.

"Matt. Get some sleep." Nova quietly instructed him, hoping he would listen.

He simply nodded, collapsing into his bed, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

-X-

Aria looked over at Matt's door, wondering when he would come out of his little apartment. Since they had returned, he had spent the bare minimum time needed outside, choosing to do something that was taking up all of his time. She was halfway through her door when she changed her mind, turning to walk over to his door, knocking gently on it.

"Hey, Matt." She started.

The door opened, Nova floating at head height, "Hello Aria." She said with a sort of smile, "Matt's sleeping at the moment." She paused, chuckling, "For the first time in days."

Aria looked at the ghost, "How has he been?"

The ghost shrugged, "He's been odd. He's been building something since we got back, only went near food when I shoved it under his nose about an hour ago." The ghost moved backwards, seeming to want to go back to her guardian.

Aria stayed at the door, "If you want I can…"

Nova shook left to right, "No." She sighed, "Sorry, it's been a long few days." She drifted backwards, her front half flicking upwards as an invitation to come in.

Aria stepped across the threshold, expecting a mess. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw a well organised and mostly tidy living space. Matt's new weapon, the energy-based rifle, stood on a stand, next to a shock dagger sticking out of the shelf. She walked over to a partitioned section, seeing what looked like a bombsite. She moved a wall back, stepping inside the small area. Electrical parts were sitting in boxes, seemingly organised randomly. There were computer chips, memory modules, just sitting on the surfaces. She scanned across the surface, looking for what he was working on.

She couldn't see anything obvious, so she lifted a piece of fabric, revealing a small densely populated chip, her eyes scanning the circuitry, quickly figuring out what he was building.

She turned to Nova, "Do you know what he wants with a large storage and recall system?"

The ghost shrugged again, "Probably something to do with the names."

Aria nodded, understanding at least partially what Nova meant. She walked back into the main area of the apartment, sitting down heavily on the couch, "You don't mind if I wait for him to wake up do you?"

The ghost's optic lit up slightly, "I think he needs to see someone other than me around to get him out of his little rut."

The exo nodded, shifting various processes to continue checking for motion and powered down, sleeping within seconds.

-X-

Aleeza stood up slowly, desperately trying to drag herself out of the mental rut she found herself in. She took one last look at her brother before leaving, he was still in a coma, were it not for the constant beep of medical equipment arrayed around him, he would have looked to simply be sleeping.

The door hissed open, Carina walking in. She took one look at Aleeza before walking over to her, gently embracing the warlock.

"He'll live." The Exo said simply as she gently guided the warlock away towards the door. She could tell that Aleeza was furiously trying to hold herself together from the way that her hands shook and that she did not make any eye contact. The exo kept an arm around the warlock, slowly walking her back towards the accommodation section of the tower.

Aleeza wiped a hand across her nose, sniffing before speaking, "If he does, he won't be able to go out of the tower. His light is almost completely drained."

Aleeza sniffed again, unshed tears glistening in her eyes as Carina attempted to comfort her as they walked down the corridor. As they walked down the corridor, Matt's door opened, the hunter stepping out. He took one look at Aleeza, the looked questioningly at Carina.

She shook her head, Matt hopefully getting the message. He simply moved out of the way, backing into his apartment to let them pass easily.

He watched the warlock and titan walk past, Aleeza looking like she was in pain, Carina supporting the warlock as she walked. Matt stepped out after they had passed, just as Aria opened her door.

"Want to do something?" she asked. She was geared up, helmet tucked under one arm.

He shrugged, feeling much better than he had the previous few days, "Yeah, why not. I'll need to buy a new ship off Holiday first."

Aria laughed, "I'm sure she'll be chuffed that you need _another_ ship. The last one was new off production."

-X-

Amanda had refused any amount of glimmer Matt had offered her, and they had ended up crammed into Aria's small one-man ship. Matt stood hunched over behind the pilots' seat, their weapons had been crammed into the locker, Matt deciding to leave his rocket launcher behind. They had been flying for about an hour, unable to jump halfway around the planet as it would have thrown Matt into the back of the ship. They flew once over the landing area in Old England, turning gently to transmat out as Jenny landed the ship.

Matt watched most of the landing, smiling at the ghost when she transmatted to Aria's shoulder, "You've been practising." He said, "Definitely an improvement of the last landing I saw you do."

He put his helmet on, HUD bootup icons flickering in front of him, "So, where are we exactly?"

"Old England." Aria replied, moving towards a squat structure, "Amanda said there were some weird things reported by a flyover, some strange signals. She's been asking for a team to investigate, and you need to get used to working as a team again."

Matt followed behind her, turning every so often to check behind them. It's was quiet, almost silent if it wasn't for a gentle whistling caused by the wind. Aria stopped by a large door, waiting for Matt to catch up.

"You know that rifle looks weird, right?" she joked, Jenny materialising to start opening the large hangar door.

Matt shrugged, crouching next to Aria's ghost, putting himself in between the ghost and the large open space, "It works, runs of some energy source that hasn't run out in who knows how long, and hits like a truck." He raised it slightly, moving back towards the ghost, "Could you hurry up a bit? I think I saw something over the other side."

Nova materialised next to Jenny, her optic flickering on and off rapidly as she joined the other ghosts' attempts at unlocking the door.

A mechanism in the wall disengaged with a loud thud, Aria throwing the door up, tapping Matt on the shoulder as the two ghosts dematerialised into the safety of their guardian's armour. He backed up, jumping to grab the door and pull it back down after them.

Lights snapped up, the two ghosts boosting their optics luminosity as Matt and Aria looked around for something with a network access. They walked around the outer edges of the area, moving in opposite directions to one another, carefully inspecting the walls for any sign of Fallen infiltrators.

They met at the other end of the space, Nova estimating it to be about 100 metres in length.

"Anything?" Matt asked, looking back along the path he'd just walked, hoping to see something looking back that he had missed.

Aria shook her head, "Nothing electrical. There was a door about halfway down, I left it for now."

Matt nodded, "Let's check that then."

They set off towards the door, Matt aiming in the rough direction as they walked.

-X-

"Pahanin," Cayde shouted after the hunter, jumping down onto the hanger floor.

The hunter turned, walking backwards as he spoke, "Cayde." He replied levelly.

"Where are you going?" Cayde sped up, catching up to the other hunter as he walked towards his new ship.

Pahanin sighed, "I'm leaving. Maybe not forever, but I don't know. I'll wonder, I guess." He hefted an odd machine gun, "Anyone gets in my way, I've got what remains of them."

Cayde nodded, "You know Zavala sent me here to stop you, right."

"Stubborn old bastard." Pahanin smiled, but Cayde saw through it, "I suppose you'll want me to leave so he doesn't lay into you for not stopping me."

Cayde shook his head, "Nope. I'll face this one." He paused, stepping towards the other hunter, "Take this." He held a knife, handle first, towards Pahanin, "At close quarters, a knife is better than any gun."

Pahanin smiled again, accepting the knife with a nod, "Thank you." The hunter turned, climbing over the wing of his ship, opening the cockpit canopy, pausing before lowering himself into the pilot's seat, "Tell Eriana I said goodbye." He said, with finality about his words that made Cayde think about stopping him.

The hunter vanguard simply nodded, watching the ship as it rose smoothly and shot into the rising sun, spiralling up and away. As much as he loathed to watch one of his best hunters go, he wasn't going to stop the man. He'd seen something truly horrifying and had had enough of the whole thing.

Cayde looked up towards the sound of heavy boots on metal as Zavala landed hard on the hanger floor. He looked the titan in the eyes, "I missed him."

Zavala scowled, not believing Cayde for one second. He thought about arguing with the hunter, then changed his mind when he realised that it would just sour relations between titans and hunters in general.

-X-

Matt opened the door, recoiling as a smell cut through the air. He backed up quickly, turning on the filters in his helmet. Aria laughed, walking through the door shotgun held ready to fire.

Her laughter cut off suddenly, "Matt. I..." a hiss of static, "This is bad."

Matt opened the door fully, his hand twitching as he saw the bodies. There were maybe 20 dead, recently too from the looks of it. Their skin had sunk into their cheeks, and in some cases, there were signs of rot.

He crouched down next to one of them, eyes pale and sunken, fighting the urge to throw up in his helmet. The person held a tablet in one hand, lying against the wall. He gently opened the hand, taking the tablet before backing away, "Nova, can you check that for anything interesting?"

The ghost didn't say anything, the slightly jolly mood they had all been in before evaporating. Matt took a deep breath as Jenny spoke, "I've found a generator, we might have lights, if you want them."

Aria looked at Matt, who was finally walking between the bodies, looking for anything indicating their cause of death, "Matt. Would lights make this easier?"

The hunter sighed, "I'd be able to see more. But I don't know if I want too." He paused, crouching again next to another one of the bodies, "This one was young." He stood up again, "Get some lights on in the main part if you can. I'll put this in the report."

Jenny flickered her optic, the hunter turning towards the door as the lights came on in the main section of the building.

He stepped out of the side room, Nova still floating around the tablet, "Got anything?"

The ghost looked up from the tablet, "Not much. Some half complete schematics for a ship, but that's about it. I'll keep looking."

The room, now lit up showed a network of low-lying tables, displaying various items in various states of disrepair. Matt walked along the displays, looking for something to distract him from the corpses.

He looked at a stone plaque, words carved into it. He wiped dust off it, his eyes scanning across the inscription.

 _Here was the final landing of fighter squadron SENTINAL, after their worst mission in terms of losses within the squad._

He moved along, looking at various hardware displays, his eyes scanning for anything that could tell him about any tech in the area.

Nova shot over to him, "I got everything out of the tablet." She said, "There was a schematic for a ship, I managed to reconstruct it from a few corrupt sources."

Matt nodded, "At least there's something from this then." He looked back at the stone tablet, "Do you know anything about SENTINAL?" he pointed at the tablet as he spoke.

Nova looked at the plaque, thinking for a second, "No, nothing. I'll check with the cryptarchy when we get back to the tower."

Matt sighed, looking at Aria, who was closing the door quietly. He opened comms, "I thought you said this would be relaxed." His voice was flat, he didn't feel like making a joke at this point.

Aria looked up at him, "I wish it had been." She gestured towards the large hanger door, "I think it's time we left."

She threw the large hanger door open, Matt jumping onto it again out of necessity to close it after them. White light buzzed around them, the two guardians materialising on Aria's ship again, Matt lying on the floor near the back to make sure he wasn't going to get spliced into anything. He stood up, walking over to the middle of the ship, taking his weapons and dropping them in the locker.

He sat, back resting against the side of the ship, Aria walking over to join him, "You alright?" she asked simply.

Matt pulled his helmet off, "Maybe." He sighed, "That was rough."

The ship took off smoothly, the two guardians sitting side by side opposite the weapons locker.

-X-

"I told you to stop him leaving," Zavala growled, staring daggers at the hunter vanguard.

Cayde shrugged, "I missed him. Could just see his ship in the distance as I got to the hanger. T'was quite poetic actually."

Zavala stomped up to the hunter, "Cut the crap. You let him go. Why?"

Cayde shrugged, "He wanted to go. He's lost enough friends without counting the ones from Luna." The hunter paused briefly, "Zavala, you do understand that, unlike titans, hunters prefer to be outside the wall right? Yeah, we helped build the damn thing, does not mean we like being trapped inside it. Anyway, he's gone now, you'll have to send a titan or warlock out if you want to find him."

As he spoke, a warlock walked into the hall, "Vanguard." She said.

Cayde turned around, "Eriana." He sounded surprised, "Not like you to come asking for something."

The warlock shrugged, "I'm asking on behalf of a fireteam, actually."

Zavala looked at her levelly, his piercing blue eyes meeting her dark purple optics, "You know you can't leave the planet, right?"

The warlock backed up, holding her hands up in mock surrender, "Wouldn't think about it. Just requesting permission for us to go out together."

Zavala looked at the warlock suspiciously, "Why?"

"We want to just do something. We're getting fed up of being locked in the tower, there's only so much you can do before you've done everything 50 times. We want to shoot some stuff."

Zavala sighed, "Fine. You get two days."

The warlock nodded, "Thank you." She turned to Ikora, nodding at the warlock vanguard, who nodded back lifting her middle and little finger on her left hand.

Cayde look at Eriana, "What's that all about?"

The two warlocks laughed, "Nothing for you to worry about Cayde." She replied smoothly, "See you in two days, Vanguard."

Cayde looked at Zavala, "Do you know anything about that?"

The titan shook his head, "No a clue, Cayde, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

 **Hi.  
I surprised myself with how fast I got this one done, but I guess that's what happens when you have whole days to write instead of half an hour here and there.  
Doubt future chapters will have this quick a turnaround, but I can dream, I guess.  
Feedback appreciated, as always.  
Until next time.**


	11. The Rose

They walked towards the vanguard in silence, mulling over what they had found. The lack of a third fireteam member was drawing some odd looks from civilians, although no-one stopped them to ask about it. Matt still wore the torn clock he had when he'd crashed on the moon, blood staining part of it, the end frayed and torn. He fiddled with his knife, spinning the blade around his finger before throwing it in the air, watching it throughout its arc, holding out a finger to let the handle fall on. Aria watched the blade as it rose and fell as well, admiring the way the light reflected off the blade. Matt snatched the blade out of the air, handle in his palm, sheathing it as they walked down towards the vanguard.

A warlock cannoned around the corner, clattering into Matt, who fell over backwards, the warlock tumbling over and landing next to him, "Sorry, sorry." She scrambled back to her feet, brushing off her robe before offering a hand to Matt, who accepted it.

She hauled him up onto his feet, "I was in a rush, are you OK?" she asked, her purple eyes lensing outwards.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks." Matt replied, grinning, "I should've moved outta the way, must be getting slow."

The warlock smiled, "Well, glad I didn't do any real damage." She laughed, "At least I didn't send a civilian flying, that would've been bad. Anyway, gotta dash, places to be." She waved, turning and sprinting off, taking the stairs 5 at a time.

Matt pulled the sides of his cloak hood, snapping them back to where he liked them, smiling at Aria, "Well, that was unexpected." He said happily, "Now," his tone changed, "Shall we go and tell the vanguard we found some recently dead."

Aria sighed, "I suppose we should." She replied.

-X-

/ECHO_SENT

/MESSAGE BEGINS

D.O.\L,

Someone found them.

/MESSAGE ENDS

-X-

Matt's shoulders sagged, "Thanks for talking for that." He said.

"It was rough for you, I didn't see any reason you should have to recount it when I was there as well." Aria replied, "Anyway, I remember things in more detail than you, so it makes sense for me to report to the vanguard." She grinned, "Organics and their silly storage systems."

Matt shoved her away, "Exo, with their irrational lack of morals." He shot back, feeling better about bothering to come out and do something, realising that he'd been stewing in his own pit of guilt.

Aria stopped walking by Shaxx, "Want to go a few rounds, get you back into the swing of things?" she asked, "Maybe this time I'll do better than you."

He shrugged, "I suppose I should, or I'll be out of practice for the next crisis."

Aria grinned, her eyes lighting up, "Thousand glimmer on the first match, best out of us to takes it?"

Matt nodded, "Hope you've got a grand lying around." He grinned, spinning his hand cannon around his finger.

-X-

The two of them slid behind the rusting truck, Matt peaking up, dropping to the ground as shot whistled through the hole where the side window would have been. He looked at the warlock, a guardian Shaxx had put them with for the skirmish, "All three of them are there, could you get a 'nade over?" he asked.

She peeked around the front of the truck, looking across at the enemy team, void coiling in her palm, "I think so." She said, "Yeah, yeah I can." She sounded more confident the second time.

She backed up, giving herself room to throw, "Ready?" she asked.

Matt held his handcannon up, nodding.

She threw the grenade, the shooting over their heads stopped. They sprung over the truck, the warlock landing on it to start shooting, Matt firing while in the air. He saw a hunter drop, staggering backwards as more bullets slammed into his chest. One of the Titans stood their ground as Aria swooped in, sliding around the corner, her shotgun slamming into her shoulder. The titan staggered, void lashing into holes in his armour. He withered in pain, dissolving into nothing.

Matt snapped off a shot at the final member of the enemy team, clipping their shoulder, sending them staggering. He ran forwards, lunging around the corner, a knife spiralling towards the titan. It bounced off the armour, a shot pummelling Matt's shields. He flinched as he skidded on his side, grabbing onto a pillar, hauling himself upright as a second shot shattered his shield, the round stabbing into his side. He looked down, hissing in pain as he pulled the needle-like projectile out of his side. His side continued to burn after he'd pulled the round out, the titan's gun firing, whispered instead of booming.

Matt flicked a grenade off the wall, watching it bounce past the pillar. It detonated as he felt a hard impact on the side of his helmet. Something snapped, then he saw through Nova's optic.

"Fuck." He yelled, "Bastards got something that burns, look out for that."

Aria slid into the room, her shotgun booming in the enclosed space, the titan backpedalling, throwing up a void shield as he did so. Aria lunged forwards, letting arc energy surge through her, her punch connecting, the shockwave throwing the titan backwards.

Matt felt light running through his link to Nova, the warlock crouched next to his ghost, "You alright?" she asked, her rifle held tightly.

"Just about." Matt nodded, "Thanks."

The warlock yelled in pain as shots cannoned into her side, staggering into Matt. He caught her, gently setting her against the wall as he drew his handcannon, firing back out of the door at a hunter rushed forwards, catching their head multiple times. The hunter dropped again, skidding forwards on their back as their ghost materialised. Matt strode forwards towards the door, his body glowing gold as he stepped out of the room, two shots ringing out as Shaxx announced the match over.

The warlock staggered to her feet, rubbing her shoulder, her helmet disappearing in a flash of light. She opened her mouth to speak.

-X-

Aleeza let go of her brothers' hand, hoping beyond hope for a twitch of life in it. The irregular clicks of Lex had stopped about five minutes ago. People had come and gone around her, some guardians she recognised, some she didn't. Carina had made a point of staying with her, just sitting next to her, simply existing had been enough for the warlock. Leaving to find Matt, arriving at the moon again to find a war zone had surged the hope that maybe Akiva would pull through, but even as she sat in her own little reality, living within the confines of her mind, seemingly oblivious to everything around her, she heard the beeps slowing.

Not a noticeable amount over the course of a day or a week, but they were slowing. Slowly, steadily decreasing in regularity, each one signalling a further few minutes of his existence. Each lengthening gap a second closer to his death.

Gentle hands pulled her towards someone, an arm over her shoulder. The soft hum of a reactor was all she needed to know, letting the titan pull her into the hug. Carina let her rest her head on her shoulder, tears running freely down the warlocks' cheeks, her eyes wet, glistening with tears yet to come.

Aleeza chocked back sobs, Carina murmuring to her, meaningless words than none the less comforted her.

-X-

Matt spun around, charging towards the sound of the gunshot. Faint sounds, like wind, could be heard, two shots, followed quickly by two more. He spun around the corner, his feet digging into the ground, leaving gouges in the dirt on the ground as he turned. Aria and the warlock followed as fast as they could, the hunter running outpacing them a few times over.

Matt skidded to a halt, two ghosts lying shattered on the ground, needles embedded deep in their shells. He looked up, a titan lying against the wall, red blood seeping out of her cracked helmet, a black needle piercing her cheekbone. Matt suddenly felt cold, a chill shooting up his spine as he looked at the hunter. The hunter's armour had shattered, the needle protruding from his chest. His skin was black with mould, the needle still moving as he took shuddering breaths. Matt slumped onto his knees next to the dying guardian, gently picking up the others hand, pulling his helmet off.

The other coughed, blood dripping out of their mouth and nose, "I couldn't," another cough, more blood coming up, "He was too fast" He choked out, his eyes losing their light, his chest collapsing in on itself.

Matt sat there, feeling suddenly ill. Aria placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to his feet. She wasn't wearing her helmet, her face distraught. Matt looked around, the area they were in open to the sky, the sun setting blood red to the west. He moved around Aria, pulling his helmet off, letting it fall from his hands onto the dirt.

The warlock was looking away, her shoulders shaking, she was crouched down, her ghost floating around her, looking worried.

"I'm… I'm sorry." Matt said, the warlock turning around, "You didn't need to see this." He paused for a second, "I've not seen you around the tower, you new?" he asked eventually.

The ghost nodded, "Yes. I found my guardian three months and two weeks ago."

Matt crouched down next to her, "Three months. That's too soon to see that." He shook his head, "Come on kid, let's get you back to the tower." He gently pulled the warlock to her feet and guided her towards the ship he was borrowing from Carina. Holliday was insistent that she wasn't giving him a new ship until he'd proven that he wasn't going to get it destroyed within a week, and he was forced to borrow from other guardians. The ship settled down on its landing legs, a ramp opening under the nose. Matt guided the warlock up it, sitting her down in the co-pilots seat. He eased the ship into the air, flying sedately towards the tower, setting the autopilot up before spinning the chair around to face the warlock.

She was young, had probably died in her mid-twenties, maybe early thirties, her eyes were red from crying, "If you want to, you can talk about it." He said, "I've seen things like that before."

"How? How do you kill a guardian, we can't die." She said, "At least, I thought we couldn't."

Redjack ships screamed past, jets of ionisation coiling in their wakes.

"The ghosts are the ones who revive us. Without them, we have only one life." Matt looked at Nova, who was flitting around the ship, checking everything was safe, "To kill a guardian, you need to kill the ghost." He looked away, blinking away tears, "Ghosts are too easy to kill. A bullet, fire, darkness. Any of them will prevent revival, either by forcing the ghost to utilise its light to protect itself, in the case of darkness, or by destroying the ghost."

The warlock looked up, her eyes still wet with tears, "But why? What was make someone want to kill another guardian?"

Matt shrugged, "I wish I knew. If I did, I would have intervened."

The warlock stood up, dragging the co-pilots chair along the track to sit closer to him, "I… I just thought…" she paused, swallowing hard, "The needles, did you recognise them?" She spoke fast, her voice urgent.

Matt nodded, "I'd been shot with them, the titan." He stopped, realising what it meant, "The Titan." He turned around, the pitch of the engines rising, ionisation building along the leading edge of the wing, "Holliday, I need you to do something." He said over the radio.

"Ah, my least favourite pilot." Holiday drawled, "What do you want?"

"I need you to talk to Shaxx, about the guardians who were killed in my last crucible match." His voice had an urgency to it.

"Shaxx has already ordered the crucible closed, and we are looking for a Dredgen Yor inbound to the hanger. If we see him, we're blowing him out of the air." Holiday growled, "Sick bastard, killing fellow guardians."

Matt breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank the traveller Shaxx has the foresight to circulate the information." He cut the connection, turning back to the warlock, "The tower knows."

She relaxed slightly, "Thanks for giving me a hand back there." She said, holding out a hand to shake, "I'm Zoe." She smiled, although Matt could see that it was forced.

He shook her hand, "Matt." He replied, smiling back at the warlock, "You fought amazingly well for someone who's only been around for three months."

Aria laughed over the ship to ship comms, "She knows what she's doing, I'll give her that."

Matt shook his head, "That's Aria, my fireteammate, sorry about her, she's a bit eccentric at times."

Zoe's smile brightened, "Well, I'm used to eccentricity, the two others in my fireteam could define the word."

Matt looked slightly shocked, "They are assigning fireteams within three months? Damn, things must be getting desperate if they want you out and about that fast." He said, "Where are they, I'd expect them to have gone into the crucible with you."

Zoe shrugged, "They don't like the idea of shooting friendlies." She explained, "They think it's wrong, which is odd, Ikora said that it was normally warlock who had the most qualms about shooting other guardians. I guess I'm one of the exceptions to the trend."

Matt laughed, "Ikora hates that stereotype."  
"What do you mean?" Zoe asked, curiosity shining in her eyes.  
"Ikora used…" He stopped as Nova butted him in the shoulder, shaking her shell from side to side. Matt smiled sheepishly, "You'll have to talk to Ikora about it, I like all my limbs where they are."

Zoe looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "But you're a hunter, won't Cayde do anything to help?"

Matt laughed, "You think Cayde would help, he'd be betting on Ikora." Nova let out an involuntary laugh, settling down on the pilot's chair, near Matts' shoulder.

"Where do you want to land?" He asked, "Anywhere within city limits."

Zoe looked at her own ghost, who had been quiet so far, "Where's Jace today?"

The ghost spun around, a deep green optic nestled in the centre of the ghosts deep green shell, "Jace is at tower two today." His voice was deep, baritone. He made a beeline for the navigation system, tagging the tower on the ships navigation system. Nova let out an annoyed huff, "I was just doing that." She said, sounding slightly pissed off.

"I…," Zoe's ghost stuttered for a moment, "Sorry." He said, looking down at the deck as he floated back over to Zoe.

Matt smiled slightly as he felt a wash of mixed guilt and satisfaction ripple through his link to Nova.

-X-

They landed gently, the ramp dropping with a hiss of pneumatics. Zoe ran down the ramp, running into a hug with a titan, who was standing just outside the safe zone around the landing area, "Hey Zo." He said softly, "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, that's Matt, he was in the match with me." Zoe said, "He's really good at shooting."

Matt shrugged, "I try my best." He replied, "You were really good too."

Jace nodded, "You okay Zo, you don't normally act like this."

"WellnobutIdon'treallywanttotalkaboutitbecauseIsawaguardiandie." She said, becoming increasingly choked up. Jace pulled her into a closer hug, looking at Matt, "What happened?"

"A titan, his name is currently unknown, killed the guardians that he was fighting with in the crucible, after losing the match to Me, Zoe and Aria, the other member of my fireteam." Matt said flatly, "I have to go, I need to talk to the vanguard, sorry you had to see that Zoe." He patted the warlock on her shoulder before walking towards Carina's ship, taking off and turning around, flying back towards the tower.

-X-

Aria relaxed slightly as the low boom of clamps securing her ship to the transport platform rung through the hull. She disembarked, setting off towards the stairs up. She saw a group of redjack frames huddled together, slowly disbanding into groups of 6. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on as she removed her helmet, feeling it's weight disappear from her hands as Jenny stored in in the vault.

 _All units have orders, dispatch into city to protect civilians_ A slightly normal sounding voice, one she recognised as Arcite, the newly appointed crucible quartermaster, a role many guardians speculated was so Shaxx had more time to commentate on matches.

 _Orders received, units moving out_ A harsh synthetic tone was clearly a redjack, the units turned and moved past Aria in an orderly fashion. She watched them go, shock evident on her face as something sunk back into the depths of her mind, "Anything I can help you with, guardian?"

"What, um, no, thank you Arcite." Aria turned away, walking quickly over to the stairs down to the lower layers of the tower, "What the hell was that Jenny?"

The ghost spun around, "What was what?"

"I heard what the Redjacks were saying." She shook her head, "That or I'm going crazy."

"I… what?" Jenny sounded evenly pissed off and surprised, "What is going on?"

"I don't know Jenny, but something gave me access to the Redjack network," Aria said as she opened the door to her apartment. She checked the time, "Hang on," She shrugged her armour off, "Go talk to Shaxx about it or something, I need a rest."

The ghost huffed, "Where do you think I was going. Goodnight."

Aria murmured something that sounded like goodnight, before rolling over and powering down.

 **Hey look, an update. I'm not quite dead, just haven't been writing recently, because I haven't been in the right mood, sorry.  
** **I don't know how fast I'll be able keep updates coming, but hopefully it'll be a bit faster than 6 months at a time.  
** **Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time.**


	12. The Shrine

Matt looked out over the bridge, sighing heavily, "God this is so shit." He grumbled, spinning his knife around his finger, "Why do we have to do this again?"

Aria leaned against the railing along the side of the bridge, looking down into the water, "You know why Matt." She smiled, "It's better than getting shot at."

"But it's no fun." Matt's eyes glinted, "Nothing quite like having to babysit the civilians." He pushed himself up off the railing, walking down to the end of the bridge, taking a right into a small street, "I mean look, even the smallest streets are fine." He threw his knife into the air, watching it spin, reaching up and catching it with ease. He absentmindedly picked at a scratch in his armour, put there by a vandal that had managed to sneak up on him when escorting civilians back to the city after a study had gone wrong, for a few moments before Aria poked him, "Nova will go mad if you keep doing that."

Matt shrugged, "Yeah, I really need some new armour." He disconnected one of the bracers, picking at the tattered cloth that covered the majority of the armoured parts, "It looks nice, but I don't think I can afford another set like it." He pulled a throwing knife out of a hidden sheath inside the cloth layer, spinning the blade around his fingers, "If I could do proper guardian work, I'd be able to buy a ship from Holliday as well, but noooo, because I decided to fly one recon mission around the moon, better take all his stuff away and lock him in the city."

"Matt," Aria sighed, she could see where this conversation was going, for the thirteenth time this week, "The Vanguard have declared the moon off limits to any guardians, that, unsurprisingly includes you."

"But how are we supposed to ever do anything, Aria, there is a god on our doorstep, and there's been increased sightings of Hive all over the planet. We know nothing about the hives operation on the moon."

"Yes, and your little scouting mission found out a whole lot of nothing, you wasted your time, and got yourself stuck here for god knows how long."

"Aria, Crota killed our friends, do you not want vengeance for them, for Akiva?" Matt's voice was low, he almost spat the word Crota, "And Ekolzyn doesn't believe that Crota is truly a god of the hive, that there is something out there that commands even him." He walked backwards, looking at Aria, "Crota crushed the army we threw at him, easily, we wouldn't stand a chance against him if he attacked us here, imagine what power the hive above him wield. The light, everything, the city, the people we've been tasked with protecting, all gone." He practically growled.

"I… Matt, we can't think like that now, and I have to go." Aria shrugged, "I'll see you tonight, you will be training, right?"

The hunter nodded curtly, "Of course I will, how else am I going to manage to keep a semblance of being a competent shot without being allowed out into the world." He put the bracer back on, "Where you off to?"

"Zavala wanted to talk, something about corruption." Aria shrugged, her tone shifting slightly.

"Are you okay, you haven't seemed like yourself recently, I've been bettering you more often than I'd expect in training." Matt sounded genuinely concerned, Aria kicked herself for letting her voice slip.

"I'm fine, Matt, enjoy your patrol, I need to get going." She turned, jogging away from Matt, who gave her a small wave, "Has Jenny said anything?"

"No, I'll keep an ear to the ground, but if Aria wants to keep this quiet, I won't hear anything." Nova shrugged, floating along at his shoulder, occasionally ducking down to let a child touch her shell. Matt could feel the joy pushing against his overly sour mood. Despite himself, he crouched down with Nova as the next child walked past, forcing a smile onto his face.

The child's smile boarded, his small hand reaching out to touch Nova's shell, then looking at Matt, a mixture of awe and surprise, "Do you mind?" He asked, a small high pitched squeak.

Matt nodded, "Sure, I mean, she doesn't bite." He couldn't help but smile, watching the child tentatively reach further to poke Nova's shell, snapping his hand back like he expected her to "bite", giggling when she didn't move, patting her shell gently.

Matt smiled, hearing Nova laugh, "We have to keep going, finish the patrol route." He reminded her, "It was nice meeting you."

The child nodded, "It was nice meeting you mister Guardian." He said, running away towards a group of friends. Matt's smile broadened as the child left, turning around smartly to continue his oh so boring patrol.

"That's why the vanguard doesn't want guardian's leaving for the moon. We need every guardian we've got here, to keep people safe. There are more threats to the city than just the Hive, Matt, don't forget that there's only one known Eliksni that supported working with guardians, we've still got the Devils and some small amount of the Kings on our doorstep." Nova said quietly, "We lost enough on the moon. Don't add yourself to that list."

Matt nodded, "I'll try not to." He replied, "Come on, Zavala wanted us back by seven."

-X-

Carina looked at the message, scanning over it, "What do you think?"

Spears shrugged the front half of his shell, a short complex rhythm of sounds emanating from his damaged vocal processor, _It doesn't sound malicious, but I've not found anything about this "Sunbreak order", they just don't exist._ The ghost said, _There's nothing in city records._

Carina looked over at Spears, "Really? Nothing at all." She had a look, a look that said that she'd already made up her mind about what she was going to do, "Mercury, right?"

Spears nodded, _That's the coordinates given._ He flashed up a map, _It's quite near one of Shaxx's crucible arenas, The Burning Shrine_.

"Right then, let's get going." She checked the message once more, "I'll go and tell Aleeza I'll be gone for a few days."

"I mean, why can't I come with you? If you're going to the biggest Vex machine in the solar system, wouldn't you want someone watching your back?" Aleeza said from the door, "Why are you going out there anyway?"

Carina smiled, "Got a strange message, from "The Sunbreak Order". Spears can't find anything about them in the archives, so I was going to go and have a mosey around."

Aleeza raised an eyebrow, "Nothing in the archives, at all?" She stepped into the room, "Weird, there's normally something, even if it's an official, "You shouldn't be here" notice."

Spears let out another series of shrill whistles, Lena translating for Aleeza, who smiled, "I see." She took a few more steps into the room, "You leaving today?"

"I was planning on it, yeah." Carina swung her rifle over her shoulder before dropping a sidearm into her hip holster, "I'll be back in a few days." She pulled Aleeza into a hug, "I love you."

Aleeza kissed her cheek, "Love you too." She said, "Kill a few Vex for me."

Carina nodded, slowly disengaging from the hug, "Of course." She smiled, backing away, waving as she turned to walk to the hanger.

-X-

Matt opened the door to the training room, the barrage of sound assaulting his ears. He walked over to Aria, who was instructing an Awoken who was struggling to control their rifle, the first shot of each burst was on target, the next three or four were flying massively wide. As was customary, each guardian wore their helmet, and most wore full armour. Many of the hunters were grouped up, flicking knives at the targets between rapid shots from their preferred weapon.

Matt walked over to the booth next to Aria, lifting his hand cannon up to fire, "Twenty targets, right?" Nova asked, looking at a panel on the wall.

Matt nodded, Nova looked down range as twenty targets flashed up at medium range. Matt fired in short groups, his hand cannon ringing loud, the targets dropping in quick succession. He took a brief break, flicking a new magazine into the gun, resuming his firing at the targets. The last ten targets dropped, he reloaded again, dropping the gun back into its holster on his hip, "That wasn't too bad." He grinned, drawing his sniper rifle, "Long range, twelve targets please."

The targets appeared, Matt firing three quick barrages of bullets, reloading after each set, "Good, at least I'm still accurate." His knife flicked out, thudding into one of the closer targets, "Yeah, still got it." He closed his fist, looking over at Aria and the small Awoken that she was still helping. Matt shot a few more sets, sighing in disdain, walking over to Aria, "Everything alright?" He asked, more or less looking for something to do.

Aria looked over her shoulder at him, "Aaren is struggling with his aim. He asked me to help, but it hasn't been the most successful time." She turned back to the Awoken, "Fire in shorter bursts, squeeze the trigger for less time. You need to control the rifle from the barrel." She pulled her own rifle off her back, demonstrating to Aaren how to hold the gun right, "Keep the stock in your shoulder." She stepped back, letting her gun swing on its sling as Aaren stepped forwards, holding the gun up, firing a short burst of three or four bullets. The first one flew true towards the target, the second one was high, just clipping the top of the target. He pulled the barrel down, the third shot sparking of the floor in front of the target and the fourth clipping the bottom of the outermost ring. He lowered the gun, looking back over at Aria, "How was that?"

Aria nodded, "Much better."

Matt stepped forward, "Do you mind?" He held out his hand for the gun, taking it when the Awoken offered it to him.

Matt lifted the gun to his shoulder, looking though the sight, firing a single shot, checking the accuracy. He fired, a short burst rattled out of the gun, the bullets landing within the two innermost rings of the target. He turned back to Aaren, handing him the gun, "Honestly, it's mostly just practice, what Aria said will work, fire smaller bursts, learn to control them, then you'll work your way up to that." He pointed to a Titan a few booths over, who was firing a similar looking gun, spraying a relentless onslaught of bullets towards the target, peppering the inner two rings. The gun clicked empty, the Titan was already lifting a second drum to the receiver, the first one bouncing away on the floor. Aaren nodded, lifting his rifle up again. Matt stepped back, "So, how was the talk that Zavala gave?" Matt asked, walking over to his booth, "What was it about?"

"Just a quick talk on corrupted guardians." Aria said evenly, firing a magazine of her rifle into a target, "Some sightings of Yor, but aside from that, nothing." She put the gun down, Jenny transmatting a new gun into her hands, "Just to talk to them if anything 'unexpected' happened."

Matt nodded, "Yeah, I heard there were some guardians out looking for him." He fired his old machine gun, a short burst, the shots thudding into the target, "Some people get the fun jobs." He added bitterly.

-X-

"Sorry I'm late." Aria maneuverer her way through to the end of the bar, "Where's Carina, I thought she was going to be here as well?" Aria asked, sitting down on a free stool, "Or has she abandoned us for Aleeza again?"

Matt shrugged, "I don't know, Aleeza just said neither of them would be here." He took a short drink, "Bit of a bummer really, you lot are gonna have to foot more of the bill, 'cause I'm almost broke as it is."

Zoe laughed, "Not like that isn't your fault though." She elbowed Jace in the ribs, "Didya here what this goon did?"

Jace smiled, "No, but I noticed he's been around a lot more recently." He grinned, "Not like a hunter to like being stuck in the city."

Zoe had had a drink while Jace was talking, and was now ready to tell her tale, "So, Matt here was bored of doing stuff on Earth, right?" She looked at him, expecting an answer.

"That's not entirely untrue." Matt mumbled into his glass, "I hate you." He said with the faintest traces of a smile, although he still got an elbow from Aria.

"So, Matt here gets bored, right, as you do when there's nothing to shoot for a while." Zoe's smiled broadened, "So he decides to go on a bit of a scouting mission, nowhere far."

Jace's smiled grew knowing, "I think I can see where this is going." He took another drink, looked around the group, waving at the bartender for another round.

"So he decides it would be a great idea to…" Zoe was cut off by Jace.

"Let me guess, the moon?" He was positively grinning now.

Zoe nodded, "You know it, he went to the moon, just a quick fly over recon of Imbrium, right, nothing too bad like landing. At least that's what you'd think." She drained the last of her glass as the next round appeared on the bar, "Who's buying?"

Matt looked around, "How many have you paid guys brought?" He snuck a look at the prices, doing some quick mental maths, "Sod it, this can be my round." He handed a card over to the bartender, "May as well pay for my great ideas."

"So," Zoe picked up her story again, "Matt does a few close flybys of Imbrium, and the surrounding areas, nothing too bad. Doesn't really find anything, so he comes back home. Lands to find a rather angry looking Zavala and Holliday waiting for him, gets himself ground locked for god knows how long because he forgot to turn off telemetry recording." She laughed, "And now he's stuck doing whatever guardians do in the city, not getting paid much." She spluttered out between fits of laughter, "You have to have known about the telemetry, right?"

Matt looked daggers in her direction, "Yeah, I knew about it, but I didn't think it would be set to transmit, I mean, who does that?"

"Most people." Zoe laughed, "You're such an idiot."

Matt was red, incredibly embarrassed, "Right, but I'll take any argument to the crucible once it's open again, settle it how guardians are good at settling arguments."

Zoe smiled, taking another drink, "No way, I'm claiming my victory now, you're not getting a one over on me like that. Speaking of which, is there any news on Yor?"

Matt shrugged, "Not like I'd know, apart from the fact that every civilian in the city is craping themselves about him. Consensus was to go public about him, from what I could gather talking to people, or at least, people talking to me, shame that they think everyone in the city doesn't know what's happening." He took another drink, "So there's a ton of differing rumours going around, and it's all compounding to a proper shit show."

Aria shook her head, "If the Consensus knows anything, they sure as hell aren't letting anyone else know, Zavala only had rudimentary facts, and I got the impression that most of the information had come from the fireteams trying to find him."

"To be honest, I've seen worse recon data." A hunter said in passing, smiling amiably at the group, "I'm guessing you guys haven't heard anything new either, but at best guessing, he's over in old America, that's what my contacts have heard." He looked over his shoulder, leaning in closer, "Rumour has it that he's been killing whoever he comes across, and that some notable guardians have been killed." He sighed, draining the last of his drink, "Proper shit show really." The hunter stood up, pulling his hood further over his head, "Gonna go find him, end him if I can. For those I've lost." and left, leaving surprised looks on faces.

"Well, that was cheery," Aria smiled, "I'll get the next round."

-X-

Mercury was, interesting, to say the least. Endless sand up the horizon, occasional vex structures gutting out of the landscape, clouds of flickering energy coiling and writhing around them, providing an imaginative insight to what was going on, if it was only from looking at the patterns the lighting surged in. Carina kept her hand near the sidearm on her belt, her eyes flicking around, checking for any sign of the blue cloud of flickering energy signifying an encroaching army of Vex.

"Are you sure this is the right place, there's almost nothing here."

 _Just checking now, we have a one-point five-kilometre walk to the coordinates specified by the message, I couldn't fly us any closer, the Vex might get curious, and I'm guessing we don't want to have to deal with that all the time._

Carina shook her head, "Right, so all I've got is a nice walk on a desert world with a surface temperature of about 400. Seems fair enough." She slid down a dune, constantly checking around for any sight of Vex or guardian presence.

An hour later, it took her much longer than she'd expected for a short walk, but the constantly shifting sands made climbing up the dunes a chore, and she'd had to hide in a Vex ruin as a brief sandstorm blew up around her. Eventually, arriving at the coordinates specified, she stopped, swinging her rifle around, not quite holding it ready to fire.

"Carina-23." A voice, female, rang out from the rocks, "You are here to accept the fire of the Sunbreak Order?"

Carina looked at Spears, who nodded, floating next to her shoulder, "Yes." She said firmly, "Yes I am."

 **4 months is better than 6, right?  
** **I blame exams and getting distracted by video games and other projects.  
** **Sorry about that.  
I'll probably have a new chapter out soon, as exams are drawing to a close, and I'm enjoying writing a lot more.  
** **As always, hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time.**


	13. Vex

Matt wondered down to the hanger, helmet on. He wondered over to the railing, looking up at the ship, shining in the light streaming into the hanger, "Thanks." He looked back at Holiday.

"Yeah, I thought you might want a new ride, since there's no-one you can borrow off, and you'll want to get back out into the world." She said, "I'll send you the bill, now go do something to get that amount of glimmer." She smiled, "And for the love of the traveller, don't crash it."

"I wasn't planning on it." He smiled, jumping up and into the cockpit, pulling the cover over his head, "Right." He flicked a switch, "Nova, can you plot a course, up and around the traveller, then I'll power out, see how she flys?"

"Already done, I've had one planned for a while now." Nova said happily, floating around the ship, "Can you remember how to fly?"

"Yeah," He flicked a switch, waiting a few seconds, feeling the ship slowly rumble into life, "Route is cleared, right?"

"Yes, cleared and ready to go." Nova's excitement bobbled over to Matt, "Come on, get going already."

Matt grinned, resting his head against the headrest, engaging the engines, sending the shooting out of the hanger.

-X-

Aleeza,

Sorry I haven't had a chance to talk to you, I've only just had enough time to write this. Solar light is different, I think. It doesn't push you forwards like arc does, it doesn't want you to be at the front of the line, but at the same time, it yearns for destruction, to make everything like it.

It's taken me a few days to actually forge it into a weapon, but grenades came easily enough. The hammer, it's something else, it just emanates power. Some of the other Sunbreakers carry constantly formed ones where you'd have a pistol, they carry power with them, Oorus, the current Empeyreal Magistrate, carries a gun, but she never uses it, according to the reports. I've had to clear out a few Vex with some of the more experienced Sunbreakers, we're heading into one of the Vex constructs soon, Oorus wants us to clear it out, she says they've seen some massive signals from inside. We leave tomorrow, I'll try to send you messages once we are inside.

I hope everything is going okay back home, I'll see you soon.

Carina

-X-

Matt laughed, landing on the muddy ground, "Where was the bounty?" He asked, looking around to check the landing area was clear.

"There's a fallen patrol six hundred metres away, they saw the ship fly by, we need to talk to Cayde about his stealth tech." Nova tagged the location of the patrol on his map, "Go get 'em, I guess."

Matt nodded, running towards the location, jumping effortlessly over dead trees, slamming into the rear guard, his knife against its neck, _Which one is your leader?_ He growled.

The fallen shrieked a warning, _A scavenger, behind you, you fools_.

Matt shook his head, knocking the fallen out with a sharp blow to the side of its head, "Great, just assume I'm going to kill you all." He said, bitterly, _I need to know where something is, which one of you is the leader here._

A dreg, having fallen behind hauling a large bag, drew its dagger, sneaking up on the guardian, stabbing at its side, where the armour looked thinnest.

Matt hissed in pain as he felt the blade bite into him, one hand flashing down to grab the handle, pulling it out, twisting and driving it into the neck of the dreg, _So, are we doing it this way then?_

The fallen charged, some of the taller ones scampering forwards on four limbs, others raising rifles. Matt stepped forwards, striking the first one that attacked with the handle of his knife, knocking it out, before flicking away a thrust, stepping inside to punch the other's helmet. the Fallen dropped, a crack in their mask leaking ether. Matt ducked, a shot boiling the air above his head. He responded, drawing his pistol, firing three rapid shots, killing the three fallen with long rifles. He flinched as one of them hit him in the side, burning a hole in his armour. A grenade landed at his feet, he rolled away, electricity sparking then lancing from the top of the grenade, splitting a nearby tree with a massive crack. The fallen that had thrown the grenade let out a shriek as the tree fell, diving out of the way, scrambling back up to its feet, snarling. This one, taller than the others, carried two swords, chain lightning flickering along their length in its lower arms. The upper pair swung a cannon up onto its shoulder, launching a projectile at Matt. Matt dived out of the way, feeling the heat of the projectile as it whistled past his head, even though his armour.

"Matt, I won't be able to revive you with him around." Nova said, sounding surprisingly calm, "It would be incredibly risky, I'd rather not have to."

Matt nodded, pulling at his light, melding it into a shape, curling his hand around the burning pistol grip, shooting once. The round lanced through the air, connecting him to the fallen for an instant.

The instant passed, the golden line dissipating, energy boiling away the Fallen's body, Matt lowering his hand, "Right, what were we looking for again?" He asked, cleaning off his knife, "Some sorta circle thing, right?" He walked over to the first of the bags the group of fallen had been carrying, digging through it.

Nova sighed, not surprised that Matt hadn't been paying much attention, "It's a blue and white disk, about ten centimetres in diameter, and about three centimetres in depth. This group of fallen were spotted looting the location it was seen, the guardian who reported it couldn't get close enough, but the report said that the team thought it was important.

"Any idea what it is?" Matt asked, throwing the bag aside, "Because if it's a bomb, I'm gonna shoot someone as soon as I'm back up."

"Matt, that's not a good...," Nova sighed heavily, materialising and moving over to the scorch on the floor where the Fallen captain had stood, "It's right there." Nova sighed again, "Look, the sooner we can get this back to the Praxic warlocks the better. We shouldn't really be working alone, but then again, this shouldn't be too hard of a contract." looking up at the sky, and the mountain dominating the view, "There's a vanguard black site up near the top, if you want to go and poke around. Or we could go and deliver the package, since we've found it now."

Matt turned around, pulling a gun out of the bag he was rummaging through, "Right, okay." He nodded, "I think I'm on some pretty shaky ground when it comes to the vanguard, so I guess I'll stay out of their black sites." He ambled over to the disk, flipping it over in his hands, "Well, it's not an Eliksni design." He shrugged, letting Nova transmat him back to the ship as it flew over.

-X-

She shoved the rifle away from her face, hearing the harsh whine snap of plasma discharge from the line rifle. Carina kept firing, keeping one eye on the other titan as her hammer crashed into the side of the vex, tearing through the metal, destroying the Vex entirely. A flick of the titan's hand sent the hammer spinning towards Carina's target, the hammer thudding against the Vex armour, melting a small hole in the plate. Carina shifted her aim, firing into the weakened area. The vex let out a metallic shriek as the bullets shredded its internals.

The other titan sighed, the sound rushing through the comms, "I thought they'd be less active around this gate. It hasn't been linked properly to anything in years."

"Well clearly we got something wrong then." Aodh snapped, her hammer ringing as it caved in the armour of a hydra, "The whole of the known gate network is lighting up, we need to get through there before we get overwhelmed." The hammer left her hand, cutting a golden line through the battlefield, the impact incinerating a small group of goblins some two hundred metres from her, "We'll clear a path, rally at the portal." She ordered, charging forwards, a new hammer forming in her fist.

Carina grinned, hauling her rocket launcher onto her shoulder, emptying both the tubes in front of her, charging forwards. She swung her fist into the side of the next Vex she came across, a hammer thudding into its side with a loud ring.

-X-

Aleeza reread the e-mail, dread creeping through her as she reread what Carina had said.

Any Vex activity was generally considered by the vanguard a bad thing, and Aleeza would have to agree with them. She remembered the fights against the Vex she'd had over the years, with and without help. The unrelenting pinpoint accurate shots from even the most diminutive of the Vex frames made them a pain to destroy, and the larger chassis had more armour and even more deadly weapons. If Pahanin's reports were accurate, as most acknowledged they were, they had faced much worse in the vault, creatures Pahanin said would haunt him till his death. She looked through the vanguard database for any mention of what Vex he had described.

Nothing.

Only Pahanin's reports of some giant Vex in the vault that they hadn't been able to kill. The Vex Kabr had fought alone.

If Carina was entering the Vex gate network, she could end up anywhere.

Aleeza stood, "Lena, we're going to Mercury."


	14. REDACTED

Something was different about this side of the world. Aria could tell as soon as she landed, the size of the buildings, even in their condition, many of the rose far above the buildings in the City. She checked behind her as she ducked into the building, "Weird feeling about this place." She said quietly.

"You got it too?" Matt swung his rifle onto his back, "Feels like people used to live here." He picked up a bag, undisturbed until now, "Guess they did." He said, looking in the bag, a plastic bottle crumbling as he pulled it out of the bag. His visor enhanced the light in the darker areas of the room as he looked around, "I could have lived here for all I know." He mused, walking towards the stairs.

Nova and Jenny were both flying around, inspecting the ground floor area they had entered, "I doubt you lived here Matt, remember where I revived you?" Nova spoke up from behind the desk.

Matt shrugged from halfway up the first flight of stairs, "Not really, didn't really have any time to check a map if I'm being perfectly honest, there was a small Eliskni problem at the time."

Jenny popped up from behind the desk on the other wall, "Why do you call the fallen the Eliskni? The word isn't in any of my lexicons."

Matt smiled beneath his helmet as he disappeared onto the first floor, "I know some rudimentary elements of the Eliskni language. It's their word for themselves, just like we have human, awoken and exo." He explained through the comms, "It's their term for their collective selves. That's all." He went quiet.

Nova transmatted back to Matt's armour, "There's nothing in the system about either you or Aria, so I'm guessing that the two of you didn't ever live here." She said, "But this building apparently housed almost a hundred thousand people, from what we've pieced together from what we could find on that computer." She triggered a scan from Matt's suit, looking for any other interfaces that she could have a look at, "There's not much here that's going to be useful, the system had been shut down for years before we arrived." She rematerialized, "We're wasting our time here, honestly." She continued to buzz around the first floor, never straying too far from Matt, "Why can't we go and do something fun? Shaxx reopened the crucible, you know."

Matt nodded, "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to start going into matches again." He climbed up the next set of stairs, "Besides, there's no real point of it any more, you just go out and do something useful instead." He flicked at a peeling piece of rotting wallpaper, watching it disintegrate, "Although there is admittedly not much to do at the moment."

"Which is why you should go and do some training in the crucible instead." Nova said calmly, "You know most good guardians started in the crucible, right?"

Matt shrugged, not bothering to respond.

"I'm sure we'll find something eventually." Aria laughed, "Nova and Jenny pulled the schematic for the building, it's split down the middle, I'm going up the other stairs to you."

-X-

"Yeah, I've got it." Matt replied, "Have fun." Aria heard a pop as he disconnected from the local comms.

Aria pulled at the strap attached to her shotgun, swinging the auto rifle back over her shoulder and letting the shotgun swing under her arm. She felt the barrel tap against her leg armour before she grabbed it, carefully checking the rooms on the floor before moving up the stairs, checking each of the floors quickly and efficiently as she went up the building.

"So, how many floors are there exactly?" She asked as the climbed the tenth set of stairs.

"92. That's including all the underground levels, but a lot of them are blocked off by damage." Jenny replied, "We wouldn't be able to get to them." The ghost continued, "As much as it's unlikely, it's also very possible that there is something useful down there."

Aria nodded, pulling the armoured faceplate off her helmet, checking it was clear of dust before moving up to the eleventh floor, "What's that, seventy-nine more to go?"

"An initial survey from the top of the building indicates that the top 20 or so floors have collapsed." Jenny replied, "So it's only fifty-nine, aren't we lucky."

Aria looked at the ghost, "Guess Matt's not the only one who hates doing these jobs." She grinned under her helmet as she replaced the faceplate, "Have you run a scan for any heat signatures around? Anything we wouldn't expect?"

Jenny sighed, "I haven't, but I guess I probably should." The ghost tapped into Aria's armour systems, sweeping the surroundings for anything out of the ordinary as Aria hopped up the stairs to the twelfth floor.

"Oh look, there's footprint… oh no, that's just us." Jenny muttered, "Guess we'll have to keep looking."

-X-

Aleeza followed the tracker Lena had put out, a small suite of scanners designed to track down light. Her ship wobbled as they hit a pocket of turbulence, for the briefest moment the onboard FoF scanner read hostiles all around, then it was back as the turbulence passed, "I don't know what Vex signature just transported away, but I think it was causing that turbulence as we passed." Lena said, floating around the cockpit as the ship wobbled again, "Flying here isn't much fun." She continued, "I'm trying to follow this damn probe, but the thing isn't hanging around." The ship rolled, knife edging through a small gap between two rocks, "Oh, it's stopped, transmatting you now." The ghost sounded surprised as Aleeza felt her helmet form around her head.

Her feet touched down on the edge of a sand dune, the sand falling away below her heels. She pushed down with her light, gliding to safety. She looked up as her ship spiralled up into the sky, "I'm down, next time put me a bit further away from the sand dunes, they don't hold up too well." Aleeza smiled, "I'll start walking." She turned towards the marker on her HUD.

-X-

"Magistrate, there's a warlock advancing on our location now." The report came in through the main console, causing several of the Titans in the room to turn their heads, clearly curious.

Ourus sighed, "What have I told you about that, I'm not the Magistrate, not until Aodh says I am the Magistrate." She walked over to the console, "I see them. Thank you." Her helmet formed around her head, "Liu, with me. Let's go and find out what our warlock here wants."

The Titan stood, picking up her pistol from the table, dropping the angular weapon into its holster on her hip, "I'm guessing you want us to start diplomatically." She casually threw her hammer, juggling it, "Else you'd take one of the boneheads." She laughed.

Ourus barely chuckled, "If our diplomacy was the thing I was trying to put across, I would go out there alone Liu. You're here to make sure the warlock knows she's got to deal with us seriously."

The smile on Liu's face dropped momentarily, her hammer thudding into her hand, "Way to kill the mood." She muttered as she picked up her helmet, "What's the betting that the warlock is looking for the origin of those gauntlets?" Her smile returned, quickly swallowed by her helmet, "I would if I was a warlock."

Ourus laughed as she stepped out into the almost blinding light bathing the dusty ground around the outpost, "You called them Sunbreakers. Not exactly subtle. I bet even a hunter could figure out who made them."

Liu shook her head, "Well, let's go find out, I guess." She dragged her sparrow out from under the plasteel sheet that she'd thrown over it, "I'm sure as hell not walking the whole way."

Barely five minutes later, Liu hopped off her sparrow as it skidded into a dune, kicking up a massive cloud of sand and glass as the vehicle skidded onto the dunes. She slid over a patch of glass as she landed, hearing the familiar whine of Ourus's sparrow slowly cycling down. She kept her eyes on the warlock, who continued to walk forwards, slowing slinging her rifle over her shoulder, "Titan." She called out through her helmet broadcast system, her voice echoing off the ancient stone pillars.

"Warlock." Ourus replied, her voice perfectly level, "We don't see many of you tower lot around here."

"I'm not here on tower business." The warlocks' words were defensive, "I'm looking for Carina." There was a hint of demand in the short sentence, "I'm not leaving until I find her."

"Carina?" The name was vaguely familiar to Liu, "Exo, about so tall?" She held a hand at about chest level, "Quite a fast talker, doesn't like standing around?"

The barest flicker of a smile played across Aleeza's face, "Sounds like her." She said levelly, "She came here a few weeks ago. I got a message from her three days ago. Nothing since." Aleeza continued to walk, making her way past Ourus and Liu, "I need to talk to whoever's in charge."

Ourus looked across at Liu, the slight angle of her helmet signalling the other titan not to speak up, "Well, I'm sure we can bring you back to the facility without angering anyone too much." Ourus shrugged, stepping backwards towards her sparrow, "Have you got one, walking across the deserts isn't the easiest thing to do."

"I've got one, but Vex interference isn't allowing me to transmat it down at the moment." Aleeza shrugged, "Guess this is why the Vanguard doesn't really want people to be showing up around here."

Liu looked at her own sparrow, then across at Ourus's much larger model, "Get a lift with Ourus then, I can't support another person on mine."

Ourus chuckled, "This is why we don't use tower requisite armour Liu, it weighs way too much for the protection it gives. You should forge your own." Her sparrow rumbled into life, the low growl of the engine quickly rising to a high pitched whine as the Acting Magistrate made ready to go, "Come on warlock, unless you want to spend a good few hours walking behind us."

Liu smiled as the warlock reluctantly climbed onto the back of Ourus's sparrow, "It's okay, she's only crashed that one three times in the past week." Liu laughed, shooting off back towards the facility, Ourus's sparrow quickly following.

-X-

Aria pulled herself up onto the roof of the building, looking around for Matt, "Come on then, I thought you hunters were supposed to be the fast ones." She laughed, "I can't see you around here at all."

"Wait, you're at the top already?" Aria could hear the disbelief in Matt's voice easily, it only made her laugh more.

"Yeah, it was easy going the whole way, once you get to the broken sections it's so much easier to make the climb."

"Right, I'll see you up there then. I've had a few dodgy floors, it's not been the easiest climb." His comm's popped again as he disconnected.

Aria wondered over to the edge of the remaining roof, sitting down, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the roof as she looked down at the city below her, minute cars lying where they'd been abandoned an eternity ago, "Do we actually have any information about the collapse?" She asked, looking down at the roads, all of them straight, joining at right angles, "What really drove us to where we are now?"

Jenny bobbed up and down, in a rough approximation of a shrug, "We don't really know, there's no real accounts of the collapse past a few stories passed down generations and told in the city. Of fire and darkness, and weapons turned against us. Some say that "the warminds" saved us, others claim that they were instrumental in our downfall." She spun around, "And the hunter's here."

"What?" Matt pulled himself onto the remaining roof, "I had to grab some stuff on the way up." He shook the bag he'd thrown up onto the roof before him as he wondered over the sit down next to Aria, "It might be useful, but I'm not really sure." He tipped the bag upside down onto the roof between the two of them, a few tablets and some engrams falling out of it, "The tablets have a lot of information on them, but someone has encrypted it all, Nova tried to decrypt it, but she couldn't get anything that made sense."

"I got a few words, thank you." She materialised, scanning the tablet again, "Look, it's hashed using a system I can't find anything about in the city records, so I can't see anything about the data within it, but the final command unpicked itself well enough. Look." She switched the tablet's screen on, showing Matt and Aria the final command line: AI-COM/RSPTN_SIGNOFF/STOPSTOPSTOP

"So, what does that mean?" Matt looked at it, "Just looks like a load of jargon to me."

"That's what we thought." Nova explained, "Then I asked Jenny to do a general search of the archives for anything with a close match to that AICOM and RSPTN bit. He's a known at least."

Aria looked at Nova, "So, what's this RSPTN got to do with all this then?"

"He's a warmind." Nova said by way of explanation, "We believe that they were built during the golden age, as a network of AI to defend the solar system from any internal or external threat. There's more in the file, but it needs vanguard clearance to see it."

Matt pulled his helmet off, setting it down on the roof next to him, "No way around it?"

Nova shook her shell side to side, "None. There's some stuff with a different clearance as well, Saladin."

"The old titan who does the crucible variant?" Aria asked, "Why'd he have anything to do with warminds."

"No idea, there's whole sections of this report that are just blacked out, guess Saladin doesn't want anyone to know about it."

"I guess. Might ask him about it if I ever see him." Aria shrugged, standing up, "Come on, we've got three more buildings to check, then we've done everything we need to do today."

Matt rolled his eyes as he stood up, picking up his helmet, "Oh joy. Gotta love doing work in a dead zone."

-X-

"Aleeza, if I had known I would have told you." Lena settled on the arm of the chair, "I'm sure they'll be back."

"How many guardians have ever made it out of the Vex gate network?" Aleeza asked bluntly, not noticing as they accelerated away from Mercury, heading back towards Earth.

"A few." Lena said, "I added the expeditions that the Sunbreakers told us about, but it's less than twenty."

"And how many have entered the network?" Her voice was quiet, she knew the answer already.

"There have been over fifty reports of guardians entering the Vex network, all of them made from a tower fireteam."

"Pahanin was the only guardian to return from a Vex gate system alive. He was without his ghost." Aleeza said, her voice barely a whisper, "Out of over one hundred."

Lena didn't reply, her silence was an answer enough for Aleeza as she choked back tears.

-X-

Carina looked around, slowly letting the void light around her hands dissipate as the final few Vex fell, the remaining sunbreakers similarly letting their light dissipate. She picked up her rifle from where she'd dropped it, checking over the frame for obvious damage as Spears materialised to start repairing the damage to her armour, the process taking slightly more time than usual as he tried to conserve the materials they had available to them.

She sat down, doing a more thorough check of the rifle, methodically dismantling and reassembling it, absentmindedly humming to herself as she did so.

A short burst of light snapped her out of her task, light coiling around her as it formed a second barrier even as she stood up. She looked towards the source, seeing three of the Sunbreakers stand up slowly, revealing a damaged chest plate lying on the ground next to a shattered ghost, the points of its shell lying around a cracked core. She sat back down, quickly finishing reassembling her rifle before standing and walking closer to the group, who seemed to close her out slightly. She could just not make out the words being exchanged but recognised the carmine shell of the ghost, and the soot coloured chest plate.

She didn't say anything, continuing to walk past the circle of Sunbreakers, making her way over to one of the titans standing near the entrance to the cavern, "I'm sorry." She said simply.

"Don't be." The Sunbreaker snapped back, "She knew the risk, as we all did."

Carina was slightly taken aback by the bluntness, "Did you know her well? Aodh?"

"Not really. But she was a good leader. One of the most powerful Sunbreakers around." Her shoulders rose then fell, a hiss of static as she took a deep breath, "They'll hate you for it."

"For what? I was just trying to stay alive." Carina looked at the scars on the sunbreakers armour, "Do you not have anything to repair the armour?"

"Some of the more zealous members of the Sunbreak order see other forms of light as a weakness. The void and arc sources are seen as a waste." She explained, "You saved some of us today, but they'd rather have died than be saved by a titan using void light." She pulled her helmet off, dropping it against the floor, "I know, Pheonix." She said softly, "Thank you, for everything." She bit back a sob, "Sorry for snapping at you." She knelt down, removing a ghost from its perch on her shoulder.

The ghost's optic flickered, once, "Pleasures been…" twice, coupled with a glitch that shattered the next word, "Mine, Sam.", then shut off. The damage done was clear, most of its shell was missing, and the core-shell had broken, revealing the circuits inside. The titan, Sam, nodded once, a quick burst of solar light incinerating the now dead ghost. She retrieved her helmet from the floor, wiping the tears from her eyes before jamming the helmet back onto her head, "Right." She took a deep breath, before opening a comm channel to all of the remaining Sunbreakers, "Send the dead on their way." She ordered, "Retrieve what will be useful, but we need to move."

The group that had been around Aodh turned, one of them picking up the chest plate, walking slowly over to Sam, offering the plate to her, "You have command, in her name, avenge our Magistrate, Samantha."

Samantha nodded, changing the chest plates over manually, while ordering people around, organising their path through the network to get them back to Mercury. Carina spent a few minutes checking over a few guns for some of the group while they checked over some maps, projected onto walls by their ghosts.

It didn't take long for a route to be planned out, although it was quite clearly reliant on many of the pathways being open at the right time. With the route now planned and shared, Samantha set off, the remaining Sunbreakers falling in behind her, moving at a good pace.

-X-

"Oh, come on Matt. It'll be fun." Zoe spun around on the chair, "At least try it. Saladin doesn't have the same rules as Shaxx, it's much more competitive than your regular crucible." She held up a hand cannon, "Plus, I got this earlier for winning 10 matches. Don't even know if it's legal in normal crucible, I almost broke my wrist first time I fired it."

Matt laughed, "So, work on shooting hand cannons then or make an arm brace. That or don't use it. You own a few good rifles, right?"

Zoe spun the snub-nosed gun around her finger, her eyes glinting, "I do, but everyone says that hand cannons are the way to get there properly in the crucible." She looked at her rifle, resting against her chair, "And that doesn't have the right sort of kick." She shrugged, "It doesn't feel right to shoot I guess."

"Go for something in a higher calibre? I'm sure someone has something to sell you. Banshee often has a few good pieces, might cost you a bit though." Matt stood up, draining the rest of his drink, "Let's have a look at that."

Zoe handed it over, her ghost materialising as she stood, "Time to go again? I thought we'd get more time off before the next match."

Matt spun the gun around, aiming down the sights a few times, reloading it, "It's not bad, could weigh a little less, but I'd imagine that's for the kick." He flipped the gun over in his hand, "I guess you should just try it out at some point. Take it on a patrol, I dunno." He looked over the warlocks head, "You need a sixth?"

"Yeah, but there's always people... oh." The look of confusion dissolved into a smile, "You volunteering?"

"If Saladin's handing out guns like that, I am." He picked up his sniper, swinging it over his back, "Ready?"

Zoe looked up at him, grin still plastered over her face as she put her helmet on, "I should ask you that, you've never seen the crucible like this."

Matt shook his head, following the warlock out, "Sure. I'll bring my A game." He spun his knife out of its sheath, the blade dancing in small circles around his hand and wrist, "I hope I will anyway."

"Any news on Yor?" Matt asked, "Past the whole, 'he's out there, watch out'?"

Zoe shrugged, "There's been a lot more security around the crucible, but aside from that, I've not heard anything. Apparently, people are saying that Saladin himself has said that he'll fight Yor if he ever shows up at one of his matches."

"Well doesn't that sound like something I'd watch." Matt grinned, "Have you seen the duels that Saladin and Shaxx have had over the years, I was watching some of them from the archive footage."

-X-

Aleeza.  
We've been in the gate system for about a day now. It's not gone well, honestly. I've been told that plain text messages are the most likely to pass through an open gate, but even that's not a guarantee. We're on the move again in a minute, at least the map has been useful so far.

Can't wait to see you again once we're out, our current estimate is about 3 more hours to the final gate.

 _G-Spears[sd] – Carina misses you, but well be out soon, I promise_

 _MSG_send_24/11/c134-11:13:43(l_gt)_

 **Three months  
That's a solid improvement over four months, right?  
Sorry about the long times between chapters, I don't write very fast, and reviewing it takes just as long...  
I'm trying to be quicker, but it doesn't seem to help xD  
As always, reviews are nice, critique appreciated  
I'll see you next time, in (hopefully) less than three months.**


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